Line Between Fantasy and Reality
by Susilo
Summary: RaeBB, RobStr, CyJynx With the Titans the prisoners of Mad Mod's false reality, they suddenly find themselves without the recollection of their days as Titans or of their powers. Can they escape their high school prison, and what feelings will rise?
1. It's My First Day

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Teen Titans, unfortunately. Any views or opinions expressed in this fan-fiction are strictly those of the author, me. The latter statement is probably just a formality, unless I somehow work my love of all things Canadian **(GO CANADA)** into this fan-fiction.

**Note:** Four at a time! Woo. This will be Saturday's update for every week from now on. Hope you like it. **This is not an AU. Trust me.**

Please Read and review. Constructive criticism wanted.

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**Chapter 1: It's My First Day**

**beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep**

The sounds of the blaring alarm clock shattered the silence in the small attic room, and a low moaning could barely be heard above the alarm. Morning had come sooner than expected for the sleeping teen. He had been up half the night anxiously awaiting the new day to arrive because today was the first day for him at his new high school. The very thought of transferring in from out of state to a new location where he knew no one at all made him both excited and nervous, making it almost impossible for the teen to find sleep. However, near three in the morning, the teenaged boy succumbed to the need for sleep. Yet, it was now six thirty am, and the boy was being awoken by his notoriously annoying alarm clock.

"Ugh," the boy moaned from beneath the blankets wrapped tightly around him. "It's too early for beeping. Need sleep." Still half asleep, the boy shakily raised a hand in the air before slamming it down at where he thought was his alarm clock. However, he misjudged his positioning and ended up knocking over his lamp before actually finding his way to his alarm clock. But, as soon as his hand came into contact with his clock, his eyes shot wide open when a sudden realization occurred to him.

"Today's the day!" He yelled loudly, jumping and falling face first on the floor near his bead. "Ow." He said standing up and rubbing his head briefly. "No time for pain! I've got to get ready or I'll be late on my first day." With that, the rather energetic teen rushed into his private bathroom connected to his room. It was small, but it was all he needed for just him.

Young Garfield Logan, at age sixteen, lived alone with his two loving parents in their small, one story home. It was so small that Garfield volunteered to claim the attic as his room when they moved there so that they would have room for all their stuff and all their different animals. Garfield and his parents had always been extreme animal lovers, and they almost had one of each type of legal pet an average American could have in their home. It was costly to feed all those separate mouths, but Garfield's parents never complained. They made plenty of money to feed twice as many. They just did not have room for any more.

Garfield's parents were scientists who were recently transferred to the Jump City branch of their corporation. Though it was a hassle to move, they just accepted things easily (too easily some would say) and began their drive down to their new home the day they had found out about their relocation. At the time, Garfield was less than thrilled because it meant that he would have to give up all of his friends and the life he had made for himself at their old city. Yet, his apprehension quickly turned to anxiousness when he thought about all the new friends he would have the chance to make at Jump City. After a week of settling into their new home, the day had finally come that Garfield had to start his new school career at Jump City High.

Twenty minutes in the bathroom later, Garfield Logan emerged from his solitude with steam from his previous shower following behind him. His hair was extremely messy with dyed green tips, but that was exactly the way he liked his hair. It was less work just to leave it the way it came out of the shower. Clutching his towel tightly, Garfield walked over to his dresser and quickly picked out the cloths he was going to wear on his first day. Twelve minutes and a few collisions with the floor later, Garfield ran down the stairs to the attic and slid across the tiled kitchen floor, still in his socks, to his usual seat at the table. He wore black jeans with a loose purple shirt with a black, unbuttoned over shirt on top of it.

"I take it that you're excited, eh son?" Garfield's dad laughed slightly as he read the jump City newspaper while chewing on a sausage link. "Don't get yourself too worked up, though. Wouldn't want to make a bad impression on your first day, now would you?" He chuckled and slid the plate of sausage towards his son. "Have some breakfast. You'll need a good meal to calm your nerves."

"Dude," Garfield yelled, shoving the sausage back towards his father, "you do this every day. I'm not eating meat. I'm a vegetarian, remember? I started three years ago. Made a whole big speech about slaughtering helpless animals. I even threw away all the meat in the house one time. It's like eating our pets. I'm sure we have a pig somewhere around here, unless you ate him already." Garfield spat the last part disgusted at the eating habits of his parents. "Besides, I don't have time for breakfast today. I have to get to school."

"Last time I checked," Garfield's mother came into the room smiling and holding a plate of pancakes, "school here didn't start until eight thirty. You have plenty of time to sit and enjoy a meal with your family before we drive you to school. Come on, sweetie."

Garfield shuddered at that embarrassing patented parental label for their young children. It was that kind of thing he wanted to avoid having anyone at his new school find out about, though he was sure that everyone was embarrassed by their parents. He still wanted to keep this event a secret as long as possible. "No thanks Mom," Garfield said as he walked towards the door and slipped his shoes on and flung his green backpack over his shoulder. Before his parents could say anything else that could be considered blackmail material if anyone ever found out, he was out the door and half way down his sidewalk to the street.

The walk to school was lonelier than Gar had anticipated and he was beginning to miss his old life and his old friends in his old city, but his eyes lit up with hope when he saw a figure that looked to be his age not to far ahead of him. Desperate for any form on human contact other than his parents, Garfield ran as fast as his legs could carry him up to the person ahead of him. The closer that he got, the more he took in the appearance of the person in front of him.

The person wore a dark blue hoodie with the hood up, so Garfield could not really tell if they ere a guy or a girl, but that did not really matter. He just wanted to talk to someone and possibly make a new friend. Gar noticed that the person also wore a pair of black jeans like he did, but the long, slender legs that they clung to made him suspect that the person was a girl. At least, he hoped that that were the case, or this was going to be a little weird.

Eventually catching up to the hooded girl, Garfield slowed his pace to match hers and looked at her more closely. The girl's head was tilted downward just slightly enough for the sun's light to create a shadow that concealed more than half of her face from anyone trying to gaze at which Garfield was frustratingly attempting to do with no luck. However, he did notice that this girl was staring intently at a rather thick book that she held in front of her face. She did not seem to notice his presence, so Gar figured that it would be better if he took the initiative and alerted her that she was no longer alone.

"Um… hey," Gar began timidly only to be met by a finger held up to his face to signify that he should wait patiently, but more importantly, silently. Though, he was confused and curious about what could be so interesting in the book the girl was reading, Garfield took her unspoken advice and just continued walking in silence, smiling at the girl now and then. Eventually, the girl turned the page of her book, marked it, and placed it in the pocket of her hoodie before turning her head to face the one who interrupted her.

"Yes?" The girl simply asked, her voice obviously showing signs of annoyance towards the new boy before her.

"Uh… hi," Garfield said shyly while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Hi," the girl replied dryly, uninterested in whatever the smiling boy was getting at.

"Um… I saw you walking towards Jump City high School," Garfield continued, still trying to find the nerve to look the girl directly in the eyes, or at least where he thought her eyes were, "and I was wondering if you were a student there?"

"I will be in a few hours," the girl simply stated. "I just moved here, so it's my first day."

Garfield let out a small laugh at the irony. "Dude, that is so awesome!" He exclaimed loudly, smiling wide at the girl beside him. "It's my first day too!"

"That certainly explains why you are so annoyingly desperate for any form of socialization," the hooded girl shot at the green haired boy. The rather odd duo walked up to their new school, still side by side.

"You know," Garfield spoke a bit annoyed, "for someone who just moved here and doesn't know anyone, you sure aren't trying very hard to make friends." Though he was annoyed with the behavior of his traveling companion, Garfield took it upon himself to be the gentleman by running up to the double doors that lead into the high school and opened one for the girl to walk through. The hooded girl, however, ignored gar's respectful gesture and opened the door opposing the one he held and let herself in. The green haired teen's face sunk and he sighed before jogging to catch up with her. "You could be a little nicer, or at least pay attention to people, mainly the handsome boy you walked to school with who wants nothing more than to be your friend."

"What's the point of trying to make friends if they are just going to reject who I am once they get to know me," she sighed almost sounding sad. "Even though I'm sure you mean well with your annoying antics, you would just end up like the people I used to know before I came here. I'd rather just keep to myself and keep the pain and betrayal as far from me as possible. After all, that's just how I'm going to end up, alone. Why fight it?"

Garfield looked at the hooded girl sympathetically. Where he had come from, he had more friends than he could count, but this girl had experienced the opposite. He pitied her, and wanted more than anything for this girl to be happy. Yet, it was not because he pitied her that he wanted this. There was something about this hooded girl, a mysteriousness that allured him. It was something that he could not ignore stirring within him, and it forced his hand before he could even dwell on the fact for long. He was going to be this girl's friend, and it was more than clear to him that he wanted that more than anything.

Sensing that any further prying into her outlook on other people would only cause her to try and push him away, Garfield decided to change the subject before all hope was lost with this girl. "So, this is your first day. What's your first class? Maybe I can walk you there… or something."

The hooded girl sighed and pulled out a strip of white paper from the pocket of her hoodie. "It says here that I have history in room one o eight with a… Mr. Mod, whoever that is." While she spoke, the girls covered head lowered to the ground, causing Garfield to raise an eyebrow in confusion.

"You feeling okay?" The green haired teen asked concerned. "Is there something wrong? You sounded sort of depressed when you found out you had a history class? I can understand if that isn't you best subject, but-"

"It's not that," the girl interrupted softly, hesitating a bit before continuing. "I don't like history. It reminds me of my past… my history. That part of my life was not as pleasant as a child's should have been. It left me with things I wish I could forget. I'd give anything to forget them."

Garfield gazed at the girl walking beside him. She was obviously hurting on the inside, but she still managed to sound like nothing was wrong on the outside. He envied her for that, but also felt sorry for her for having to put up such a front in the first place. He had to do something, something small to let her know that he could be there for her, even if she was not ready to accept him as a friend yet. Though, only one thing came to mind, and he kicked himself for about to say something so cliché. "You want to talk about it?"

The hooded girl almost laughed at Gar's question, and the way he made it sound like he really cared. "I'm fine, thanks." She had to force the thanks out of her mouth, but she had felt compelled for some odd reason to say it. Maybe she had just felt like being nice for one, or maybe she felt that there was something different about the green tipped haired boy who had latched onto her. She still could not trust him, but maybe… just maybe he was nicer than all the other people at her old school. But, then again, maybe he was the kind who manipulates others through nice words to do exactly what he wanted. It was possible.

"I'd rather not," she simply stated without showing any emotion in her voice at all as she stopped in front of her first period classroom. "Besides, shouldn't you be getting to class soon? Feigning interest in me will only make you late, and you would not want that on your first day."

"Actually," Garfield laughed, "I have first period history just like you. We just got kind of hung up on your past, or your dislike of history for me to bring it up. I thin it's kind of cool that you're the first person I meet my own age and we get to spend at least part of the day together."

'_You've got to be kidding me,'_ the hooded girl thought as her eye twitched, but her hood concealed it from her companion. "Cool would not quite be the word I would use to describe it. Interesting maybe, but not cool."

Gar just stared at her in confusion before smiling and once again attempting to open the door for her. This time, since there was no alternative entrance into the classroom, she was forced to take him up on his generous gesture, even though it went against everything she now stood for. She was independent, self-sufficient, and the last thing she needed was someone else's help, especially not to open a door. It was demeaning, and she did not know why guy thought it to be respectful. It made women out to be helpless, and that was something she was far from. Grudgingly, she briskly walked past Gar and into the history classroom.

For a world history class, the room seemed a little one sided as its various posters and objects focused more on Great Britain and its accomplishments than anything else. Obviously, whoever this Mr. Mod was, he was a Britain buff. _'Something tells me that this is going to be a long year," _the secretive girl thought to herself before taking a seat in the back. The only other options were the two in the front, and that just was not her style. To her frustration, however, the annoying green haired boy followed her and sat down in the desk next to her smiling.

"The front isn't really the place for me," Gar said chuckling a little, but the hooded girl could tell that it was a blatant lie. He was up to something for certain. She would have to keep an eye on him. "Besides, I never caught your name. I can't just forget about you now. I'm interested in you." The hooded girl just stared at him for a few silent seconds before Garfield's eyes widened in realization of what he just said. "I-I mean, I-I want to get to know you, and maybe be your friend. I didn't mean that I was _interested_ in you like that. …That's not to say that I wouldn't be. There's nothing wrong with you at all. I like you exactly the way you are. …Not that I _like_ like you. …That is, oh geese?"

"You might want to shut up now," the hooded girl spoke, trying desperately to hold back her laughter. She had not laughed in months, but this boy just came waltzing into her life making her have to work to keep her streak alive. Regaining her composure, se looked at the green haired boy indifferently. "You wouldn't want to blurt out something you don't really mean, and can never be taken back."

"Okay," Gar smiled, thankful that she had cut him off of the destructive road he was headed down. "I'll shut up just as soon as you tell me your name, deal? I'll even go first. My name is Garfield, but you can call me Gar if you feel like it."

"Call me Raven," Raven simply stated as she stared blankly at the smiling Garfield. "Do not, however, under any circumstances inquire about my real name. Call me Raven, and nothing else or I will make you wish that you were never bo-"

"Settle down, my duckies," an annoying British voice called out from the doorway. An elderly man walked into the classroom leaning on a cane with a red gem at the top. "I see we have some new blokes joining my congregation today." The elderly man slowly maneuvered his way around his desk to the blackboard behind him. All the while, he smiled sinisterly whenever he was out of the sight of three of his students in particular. "My name," he began as he picked up a piece of chalk and started to write his name on the board, "is Mr. Mod." Mr. Mod turned around and did his best to smile innocently at his students. "Welcome to school, my duckies. Welcome to school."

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**Again, not an AU.**


	2. Suspicions and Misunderstandings

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Teen Titans, unfortunately. Any views or opinions expressed in this fan-fiction are strictly those of the author, me. The latter statement is probably just a formality, unless I somehow work my love of all things Canadian **(GO CANADA)** into this fan-fiction. You know, reading the summary might help in realizing that this is not an AU.

**Note:** **This is not an AU. Trust me. At the end of this chapter, it will be explained fort her, but for now, know the following. This is not a beginning of the Titans fic. This is not a how they all met fic. Finally, this is not an AU. It may not seem like it, but that is part of the magical thing called a plot. **

Please Read and review. Constructive criticism wanted.

**Chapter 2: Suspicions and Misunderstandings **

"All right, class," Mr. Mod spoke roughly as he carefully sat in his cushioned chair behind his mahogany desk, "as you certainly know by now, this is first hour American history, and although it is not my favorite subject, I plan to make sure that you know everything there is to know about America by the time the year is up. And that includes its flaws as well as its perks, though in my class, you will find that the perks are truthfully few compared to other countries."

"Now," Mr. Mod continued trying hard to fight back coughs threatening to erupt from within him, "take out your textbooks and begin reading the first-"

Suddenly, the door to the classroom burst open, banging against the opposing wall, and two new teens rushed in the room sweating and gasping for air. The shorter of the two was a spiky black haired male who wore a dark pair of sunglasses despite a rule at the school obviously existed forbidding it. The young teen wore a green tee shirt with a red unbuttoned button-up shirt with a pair of oddly colored green jeans. The taller, female wore a short, purple shirt with a equally short, purple shirt. The girl had long red hair that reached her upper back, and also bore a cheerful smile that seemed to know no end.

"Sorry we're late," the dark haired boy apologized breathing heavily. "We were at the completely wrong side of the school looking for this classroom. I'm so sorry. I walk in the school and I'm thrown a foreign exchange student to show around, and I don't even know _my_ way around." The boy glanced briefly at his female companion. "Not that I'm complaining," he mumbled before turning back to his teacher. "It's my first day, and it's definitely hers too."

"I thought I was missing two new students," Mr. Mod coughed painfully. "Well then, get on with it, mates. Tell us your names and have a seat. The only two left are the ones in the front there. Hurry up there mates."

"Okay...," The dark haired boy eyed his new teacher, not expecting his accent. "My name is Richard Grayson." Mr. Mod raised an eyebrow and quickly jotted down Richard's answer for future use. Richard quickly stepped aside and sat down in the closest available desk in the front row, revealing the full form of the teenaged girl who had stood behind him.

"Hello, hopefully new instructor friend," the young red head said cheerfully as she slightly bowed foreword towards Mr. Mod. "Where I come from, my native name is Koriand'r, but it would be most wondrous if you and my fellow people who have come to this building of learning call me Kori Andrs." Kori smiled warmly one final time before taking her place in the only other available seat, which just so happened to be right next to Richard.

"Right," Mr. Mod continued obviously trying to hold back another cough. "As I was trying to state before, open your textbooks to chapter one and begin reading. You will be tested, and I… I-" Unable to hold back any further, Mr. Mod once again began coughing violently. Slowly, the elderly teacher struggled to get himself to his feet, leaning heavily on his cane for support. "I apologize, m-my duckies. I neglected to take my pills this morning. I will not be returning before class end, so please do the assignment and we will discuss it at a later date right now, you all have my trust. Do not do anything to loose it or you will regret it quickly." With that, Mr. Mod slowly limped out of the room muttering something about a fool proof plan under his breath.

As soon as the door shut and the signs of supervision were completely erased from the mind of one particular student, he grinned widely and slammed his history textbook closed and practically threw it behind him onto the ground. Raven's eyes shot up from the black print and slowly made there way towards her unwanted new green haired… friend, but she was surprised to see that her suspicions were wrong. Garfield seemed to be so engrossed in the history book that his entire face was well hidden behind it. She did not know why, but that just struck her as unnatural, but maybe her first impression of him was wrong.

Further past Garfield, raven saw the source of the silence shattering interruption that had earlier been emitted from Garfield's direction. A tall, well built teen was stretched out and using the desk in front of him to recline as far back as he could go without falling. The teenager was African American, and apparently shaved his head for a reason that Raven could not determine at first glance. He wore a tight fitting, white tank top with blue jogging shorts. Raven guessed he was an athlete of some sort, but God only knew exactly what sport he played. Honestly, she did not even care. Now that she had found the cause of the distraction, it would be easier to ignore it.

She began to turn her head back to her book, but the teen frantically waved his hands silently to get her attention. Sighing and already regretting her next course of action, Raven looked the teen face to face and noticed that he was grinning and pointing at Garfield sinisterly. Raven raised an eyebrow in confusion, but she soon rolled her eyes when she realized what this boy was up to. The athletic teen slowly leaned as close to Garfield's ear, hoping that the green haired boy would take no notice of his actions. As soon as he was within mere inches of his ear, the athletic boy silently inhaled deeply before-

"WHATCHA PLAY'N?"

"Gah!" Garfield yelped and some small device shot up from behind the book he was now doubtfully actually reading. Seeing his precious possession now air born, Garfield frantically tried to grasp the object but only managed to fumble it further away from him. As the small object flew further and further to his right, the short boy finally decided to make a final lunge for his nearly lost possession. In a tragic, for Garfield at least, twist of fate, he did succeed in catching the object but he soon found himself occupying the small area between Raven's upper body and her desk, otherwise known as her lap.

"Sweet!" Garfield celebrated silently as he clutched his GameStation Pocket in triumph. However, the sweet feeling of being victorious was short lived as his happiness was completely shattered when he realized that he was not on the hard ground like he originally thought he would end up. It was quite the opposite. He noticed that where he was currently located was rather soft and comfortable, but the feel of Raven's glare on him was something he could have done without. He did not even know why he knew it was Raven or if she was really in fact glaring at him. He just knew, and it caused him to jerk himself off of his previously comfortable position and back in his utterly uncomfortable chair attached to his desk. Shooting a quick glare to whoever it was to his left that just screwed him over, Garfield hesitantly forced his eyes to come into contact with where he thought her eyes were beneath her hood.

"S-Sorry," Garfield stuttered apologetically, hoping to mend whatever chances at a friendship he had left at this point. He was pretty certain that the odds of gaining her trust were dwindling with each passing second, …but that would not stop him from trying, not by a long shot. "That was a complete accident. My game was up there, and I had to get it, ya know. I just never meant to-"

"If you want to live to see the next minute," Raven spat coldly glaring at the green haired boy to her left, "don't **ever** touch me again. Are we clear?"

Garfield cowered as far down in his desk as he could at Raven's tone. "Perfectly clear. You're not a physical contact person. I respect that, and I'll try to keep that in mind."

"You better," Raven shot back threateningly as she picked up in her history book where she had left off before.

Seeing that Raven's attention was no longer on him, Garfield sighed and let his head fall hard on his desk with a thud. _'Nice one Gar,'_ the young teen thought in despair. _'It's day one and you're probably already on her "people likely to… disappear" list. That's just perfect.'_

"Sorry, man," the athletic teen said softly to Garfield before placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "It's not in my nature to pass up an opportunity to embarrass someone. I didn't mean to force you to get your girlfriend angry like that." Garfield's eyes shot wide and a blush unknowingly rose to his cheeks. "I just wanted to-"

The loud bang of a book hitting the hard surface of a desk rang throughout the classroom. Four pairs of startled eyes made their way to the creator of the loud distraction while everyone else in the classroom continued to red fervently. Raven sat completely frozen in place with her book fallen from her grasp. Slowly, the hooded girl forced her attention back towards the teen beside of Garfield, causing both her forced companion and the new kid to cringe in fear.

"Um," Garfield began hesitantly as he felt the heat of Raven's glare on him, "d-dude. S-She not my-"

"anything," Raven finished coldly.

"You sure?" the athletic teen spoke disbelievingly. "I mean, first you two walk in together like, and I could tell they you didn't just get to the door at the same time. This kid sits right next to you and makes up some obviously fake excuse as to why. And, you to are already finishing each other's sentences, although I doubt his end would have been as harsh as yours. There's obviously something going on between you two."

Raven sighed, but Garfield blushed harder and tried desperately to hide it beneath his book. "Let me make this perfectly clear for the both of you. I'm not his friend. I'm not his acquaintance. And, I have definitely not sunk low enough to even consider degrading my name by allowing myself to be referred to as his girlfriend. He is, however, something to me," Garfield's eyes glowed hopefully, "an annoyance." Raven swiftly turned to pick up her fallen textbook and resume reading, completely ignoring the look of utter rejection and despair across the face of the green haired boy beside her.

"Harsh," the well built teen whispered to a moping Garfield before noticing his distraught appearance. "Hey, man, don't let what she said get to you, okay? Here," he offered his hand to the down green haired boy. "The name is Victor. Victor Stone actually."

Reluctantly, Garfield accepted Victor's hand and shook it firmly. "Hey, dude." His voice was soft and not filled with the enthusiasm it contained earlier while talking to Raven. "You might have already figured this out, but I'm new here. It's actually my first day, so I don't know anyone."

"Really?" Victor asked in disbelief. "It's my first day too. I don't know why, but my parents just transferred me to this school because they offered one more sport than my last one." Victor scoffed. "Like my schedule isn't already filled to the brim."

"What do you mean," Garfield asked curiously.

"Well, I already play every sport my last school offered," Victor explained. "I even competed in swimming, hence the shaved head. I'll probably do the same here. That's the price I pay for having parents who want me to be the best. Hey," Victor grinned, "since we're both new here, why don't we look out for each other a bit. We new guys should stick together, ya know."

"Sure. That'd be great. I'm glad you seem nice," Garfield smiled at his new friend. "Though, I could have gone without the scare you gave me and the evil hatred vibes coming from Ms. Darkness over there."

Victor chuckled silently, careful not to alert the hooded girl on the opposite side of his new green haired friend, whom he had learned had a temper he wished to avoid, and letting her in on exactly why they were laughing was definitely something that was not on his to do list. "That's funny, dawg, but you might want to keep your jokes about her down until she's out of the room. Seems to me that she's one step away from attempting to murder you. Interesting choice in women you have there, though. You either like a challenge or re out of your mi-"

"Dude!" Garfield clamped a hand over Victor's wide mouth. "Stop saying things! Just stop. You don't know what you're talking about. I just want to be her friend. I don't like her like that. Trust me."

Victor narrowed his eyes and stared intently into the emerald eyes of the kid next to him, seemingly searching for something hidden within him. After one long silent minute, the athletic teen grinned widely and leaned back in his seat. "Nope. You like her. You just haven't fully realized it yet. Sure, you're drawn to her as a friend, but you only think that because you're not ready to realize the truth yet."

"How do you know?" Garfield almost yelled out before catching himself and forcing his question out in a whisper. "You don't even know me for more than like fourty minutes."

"It's been fourty-eight actually," Victor explained, which caused Garfield to raise an eyebrow in confusion because the athletic teen was not wearing a watch.

"Whatever, dude," Garfield continued. "I've been told that I'm gullible at times, but I'm not buying it now. Quit joking around, dude. I just want to be her friend."

"Fine fine," Victor gave in, but it was obvious he did not mean it. A loud ringing throughout the hallways signified that the first hour class had ended, and all of the students began gathering their things before rushing out the door. "Whatever you say, dawg." Victor stood up and followed the green haired boy in front of him, whom he noted was occasionally glancing at the hooded girl a few feet ahead. "By theway, I never caught your name."

"Uh," Garfield hesitated briefly, "it's Gar."

"Gar?" Victor questioned smiling. "That wouldn't be short for Garfield, would it? Like, the cat?" He did not wait for an answer. "Oh man. That's priceless. You're named after some stupid animal. No offense man, but what were your parents thinking. An animal has to be the stupidest name choice ever."

Garfield stopped suddenly when he saw that Raven was no longer walking ahead of them. It did not take long for his brain to register just what was about to happen. When it did, however, his instincts kicked in and he darted out from in between Raven and Victor. Victor gave Garfield a confused look, but soon felt a glare filled with pure hatred coming his way. Looking ahead, he came face to hood with the girl that he was sure Garfield was infatuated with.

"Um," Garfield laughed nervously. "Victor, I guess you two haven't been formally introduced yet. Victor, meet Raven. Raven, please don't kill Victor."

_llllllllllllllllllll_

Somewhere hidden in the recesses of Jump City, a small laboratory concealed from the inhabitants of the once protected city was filled with the sounds of various machines and devices that had been carefully aligned along the wall. Though there were several smaller contraptions, the seven largest were the ones that this particular laboratory was built around and it were thoseseven that were the key components to the downfall of Jump City. In truth, the city had already fallen. It was just that no one was aware of it yet, but one particular villain was hell bent on revealing that fact as soon as possible.

Suddenly, one of the six larger machines grew exponentially louder, and the glass upper half began to be lifted from its place. Frigid air flowed out of the newly concealed opening mixing with the warmer air around it, creating a visible mist covering the floor beneath the machine and inside of it. Shattering the overlay of mist within the machine, a pale, wrinkled hand holding a familiar cane shot out from beneath the mist and into the fresh air above it. Soon after, another hand felled the surface of the retreating mist and latched onto a handle attached to the ajar glass upper portion of the machine, giving the elderly villain enough leverage to pull himself to his feet before limping out of the machine and onto the solid floor below.

Mad Mod leaned heavily on his trusted cane as he slowly made his way towards the closest of the remaining five machines, all the while grinning sinisterly at his forcefully acquired captives. The machines were long and cylindrical with a large rectangular block at the head with tubes running from the block to the cylinder. The top of the cylinder was made of glass and partially detachable by raising it off of its base at a near ninety degree angle. Once reaching his destination, Mad Mod smirked down through the see through glass at a helpless masked teen lying semi-unconscious within the confines of the stasis chamber.

"Sleep well, my duckies," Mad Mod laughed a bit before erupting into a violent couching fit. "I will return once my condition improves. Play nice while I am gone, and stay out of trouble." With that, the elderly man slowly turned and limped towards the exit of the small metallic laboratory to face a second figure awaiting him. "Thank you for assisting me Mr. Chang."

"It's professor," Professor Chang corrected, "but you are welcome. Of all the evil villains I have worked for, you are the only one who has promised me at least half the city. Well, the only one who has actually been able to follow through on his offer, anyway. However, as I understand it, we are not quite ready to begin our takeover, even though the Titans are gone?"

"Quite right, mate," Mad Mod coughed out. "There is something of mine in that bloody tower of theirs that they stole from me. It is vital to our plan. The good news is that now that the tower is unguarded, all you would need to do is walk in and take it."

"And you want me to get it," Professor Chang finished for him.

"Yes," Mad Mod admitted. "It looks just like my current cane at first glance, but trust me when I say don't push any buttons. You may go through a rather unpleasant transformation unless used properly, and that is only one of its functions."

"Right," Chang spoke skeptically. "Very well. I will procure it at once so you can uphold your end of the bargain and hand over my half of the city, correct?"

"Quite right," the British villain said before coughing again. Professor Chang ignored any further possible statements by Mad Mod and quickly exited the room to obviously escape his ill accomplice. Once alone, however, Mad Mod fought his coughing fit back down and glared evilly at the closed doorway. "You'll get yours indeed."

* * *

**Sorry for not updating. Been at college orientation.**


	3. Misplaced Aggression

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Teen Titans, unfortunately. Any views or opinions expressed in this fan-fiction are strictly those of the author, me. The latter statement is probably just a formality, unless I somehow work my love of all things Canadian **(GO CANADA)** into this fan-fiction. I wish there was an Alternate Universe genre so I could search for some AU fics. Told you this wasn't an AU.

Please Read and review. Constructive criticism wanted.

* * *

**Chapter 3: Misplaced Aggression**

Victor Stone stood wide eyed frozen in horror as he stood staring down the barrel of the loaded gun that was Raven Roth. Every instinct in his body told him to run as far away from this girl as he could, but his feet seemed to have been glued in place by an unknown force. He was stuck with nothing to d but watch on as the hooded girl feet in front of him glared angrily at him from beneath the shadows that her hood created. Though he could not see her eyes, he could feel the anger coming from them. It was enough to unwillingly force normal guys into the fetal position in fear, but Victor was more courageous than most guys… just barely, though.

"U-Uh…," Victor managed to will himself to stammer without his voice cracking. "H-Hi Raven, was it? I-I was j-just giving Gar a hard time with the whole animal name thing. I-I didn't mean anything by it, and I certainly did not mean to insult you. J-Just please disregard everything I said to Garfield. I a-apologize if I offended you Raven. Can you forgive me?"

Raven stood perfectly still, leaving Victor's question purposely unanswered. The more she remained silent, the more the fear rose within her newest acquaintanceship and that was exactly what she wanted at the moment, for him to fear her. However, after a certain point, she could see hope begin to swell within Victor's eyes and bravery soon followed, albeit a fool's bravery.

"I'm going to take that as a yes," Victor prematurely smiled fearlessly. "You don't talk much, do you Raven? That's okay, though, even though when you do talk you seem to do your best to push people away. But I'm sure that past all the false anger I'm sensing from you, even you have to admit that having an animal's name for a name is pretty stupid."

That did it. In the blink of an eye, Raven lunged at the soon to be deceased Victor, only to have a pair of skinny arms wrap tightly around her slender waist and pull her as far away from the now terrified athlete as fast as they could. Through massive amounts of struggling an failed attempts to continue lunging at her target, Raven found herself on the opposite side of the hallway watching Victor run down the nearest hallway to get away from the fuming hooded teen. Gently, the pair of arms spun her around without allowing themselves to leave her waist, and she found herself face to face with Garfield.

"It's okay, Raven," Gar tried to sound comforting and soothing at the same time. "Don't be angry at Victor, okay. I think it's pretty obvious that he's not all that bright when it comes to understanding what people are thinking. Just don't pay any attention to him okay. I'm sure he didn't mean any of it. He was just joking around because he thought you were okay with it. Obviously, you weren't, but apparently Victor can't see the obvious sometimes. Understand, Raven? …Raven?"

Slowly, Garfield watched as Raven rose her head slightly from the spot on Garfield's chest to look him straight in the eyes. He had never been this close to the shadows her hood created before, and he could see if he struggled that just enough light was shining down for him to make out a few strands of purple hair. He thought he could barely make out her face, but Raven's voice interrupted his concentration and forced the image to be consumed by shadows once more.

"Garfield," Raven spoke softly, but the coldness in her voice was picked up by the green haired teen immediately, "you are touching me. Don't ever touch me. Got it?"

It took a few seconds for Garfield to register just exactly what his female companion was referring to and that only earned him a very evident angry scowl from Raven. However, soon enough, the fact that his hands were still gently placed on Raven's hips entered his mind and he knew exactly why he was on the receiving end of a glare from Raven. A small blush rose to his cheeks that he was unable to hold back. He, Garfield Logan, was holding a girl that he was trying to get to be his friend in a very compromising position. Their bodies were mere inches apart, and he had the sudden urge to hold her close and never let go, and even though he had made some stupid decisions in his lifetime, he was not about to make another that was so obviously fatal.

Jerking his hands away from Raven, Gar laughed nervously as he waved his hands innocently in front of him, hoping to make his original intentions evident and remove any other speculations from the hooded girl's mind. "Uh… s-sorry about that Raven. I didn't mean to hold you for that long. Please don't kill me."

Raven glared at the boy in front of her, but she could somehow tell that he had not intended to invade her personal space for as long as he did, neither could she blame him for wanting to keep the life of this Victor in tact though she wished that his reaction time was just a few seconds slower. Then, at least she could have gotten some retribution and made sure that Victor would think twice before annoying her with his disruptive presence again. With all her anger still leashed to her, it was just begging to be unloaded on someone. Unfortunately, the only person left in the hallways with her was Garfield. She felt sorry for him because of what she was about to do, though. She was not even really angry at him at all, and she did not know why.

"Listen you little annoyance," Raven growled as she took a step foreword causing Garfield to back into the lockers behind him. "I don't know how many times I will have to say this to you, but rest assured tat the next will be the last. Do not touch me under any circumstances. Your friend Victor had it coming, and from where I am standing, you would have had some retribution along with mine. However, I can understand why you pulled me away, but leaving your hands anywhere on my person is unforgivable. If you have not figured it out by now, I don't like to be touched at all. I like my space. I have grown rather fond of being alone. And I especially enjoy the peace and quiet, which I have yet to bask in since I met you. You talk about how Victor doesn't know what others are feeling as if you know everything. If that were so, then we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. Frankly though, I hope this conversation turns out to be our last." With that, Raven swiftly spun around and stormed off towards her next class.

Garfield sighed as he watched Raven's figure grow smaller and smaller as she walked farther and farther away from where he stood. "Why is it that with every step closer to being her friend I take, I end up being kicked three steps backwards?" Garfield asked the world around him as the harsh feeling of rejection swelled up within him. "Why should I keep trying if it is just going to get me yelled at more? But more importantly, why can't I seem to believe that she truly wants to be alone, and why is it that no matter how much pain I know she will bring me, I know that in the end I'll still keep trying?"

"Because you like her," Victor's voice echoed through the now empty hallway as he cautiously poked his head around a nearby corner and grinned at his green haired friend. "Come on, admit it. You know you dig her."

"I thought you ran away," Garfield asked wondering how Victor had gotten there. "And would you stop saying that! I just want to be her friend. A guy and a girl can be friends without any romantic involvement, you know."

"I did run," Victor explained with a laugh, "but I decided to circle around and see how things turned out with you two love birds."

"Again," gar growled, "would you stop doing that?"

"No I will not," Victor said in mock anger. "I'm going to keep saying it until you admit it yourself. Now would be the perfect opportunity, by the way. There's no one left in the hallways besides you and me. Go on. Pour your heart out." The athletic teen grinned expectantly, but his smile disappeared when he noticed the glare in Garfield's eyes. "You know," Victor spoke seriously, "I've known you for less than an hour and I can already tell that that glare is very out of character for you. There's no need for hostilities. Just admit to what both you and I know to be the truth."

Garfield sighed loudly and decided to change the subject as he walked quickly passed his new friend. "We better get to class. I'm sure the bell is about to ring. Mind if I ask what your next class is?"

Victor chuckled to himself at the overly lame attempt on Gar's part to get the conversation away from Raven before he pulled out a small white piece of paper from his backpack. "Let's see, I just got out of, you like Raven, History, so my second hour class is… Gym or," the athletic teen did air quotes and spoke in a mocking voice. "physical education."

"Seriously?" Garfield asked in disbelief. "I've got that too. It's listed right after STOP SAYING THAT! See? Right there," he pointed to his schedule and rolled his eyes when Victor actually checked. "That was something I would have fallen for, you know?"

"I was just humoring you," Victor laughed. "But seriously, we really need to get to class. And it says here that the gym is down that hallway," he said while pointing down the hall Raven had disappeared into before his eyes went wide in fear.

"Something tells me that things could get a little ugly in Gym class," Garfield laughed as he left a nearly petrified Victor behind him.

_llllllllllllllllllll_

Raven continued her trek towards her next class, and she could already tell that it would be her most hated one of the year. It was Physical Education, the one class that allowed those with the brain capacity of a newt to pass with flying colors. Oh, how she loathed that very concept. She preferred to use her brains before using her brawn but that did not mean that she could not get the upper hand in a physical altercation if need be. Yet, the concept of this class seemed to encourage the exact opposite. However, she was sure she could pass the class with just showing up every day. She wasn't about to stoop to the level of participating in the childish antics of whatever the teacher had in mind.

Yet, her anger towards her next class was only an unknowing cover for what she was truly feeling. With every step closer to the gymnasium she grew, the more guilt rose up within her heart. Deep down, she knew that most of the things she had said to Garfield were true, but she was not affected by them as much as her tone had led on and she felt bad for taking her anger for what Victor had said out on Garfield.

'_He did not deserve that,'_ Raven thought to herself as she continued walking down the hall. _'All he wanted to do was be my friend,'_ a small part of her argued. _'Maybe I could use one, no matter how annoying he could be. Though, my last two ventures at friendship did not turn out as I had hoped. I don't need that kind of pain again. I should just ignore him and everyone else for the remainder of my time here. Then why does it seem like I could never ignore him… or any of the others I've met thus far? What is it about them? They almost seem… familiar.'_

Though Raven wanted nothing more than to continue to loose herself in her own thoughts, she suddenly found herself standing directly outside the gymnasium door blocking the entrance. Fortunately for her, there was no one behind her waiting to get in, so she did not look like a complete idiot just standing there. Without any further hesitation, she quickly opened the door and stepped into what would no doubt ably be the worst hour in her day, though it was far from over. Slowly, the door swung shut behind her.

Mere seconds latter, a small group of two young teens appeared in front of the now closed doorway. The taller of the two seemed to look at everything in wonder as the shorter tried to explain thing after thing to his new acquaintance. Chuckling slightly to himself, the smaller, black haired teen tried his bet to explain to his companion what kind of class Gym would be.

"Well Kori," Richard grinned at the red head standing closely next to him, "Gym is the one class of the day where we can all come together to actually have a little fun from time to time. Every once in a while, they'll try to teach you something which they deem important or necessary for one's physical condition, but most of the time we just good off and play random gamed like basketball or even football."

"Wondrous," Kori beamed at her new friend. "I do not believe that we have an educational gathering like this where I come from , Richard. I believe it will be most enjoyable. May we partake in this fun together, Richard." Kori blushed a little. "I believe I would enjoy that."

Richard smiled. "I'd like that too, Kori." Formally, he offered his arm to Kori. "Shall we?" A confused look on the foreign exchange student's face was all the response he received. Laughing silently, he just simply took her hand in his and led the red headed teen into the gym. Once inside, the foreign student was amazed at how large of a room the gymnasium actually was, and a small gasp escaped her mouth.

"Never seen a gymnasium before, girl?" An amused voice asked from behind the standing duo.

Slightly startled, Kori let out a small eep before she and Richard spun around to face the owners of the new voices. To Kori's delight, she was met with the smiling faces of Victor and Garfield. "Hello new soon to be friends," Kori smiled joyously as she spoke. "I am Kori and my appointed guide around my new school is Richard and also my friend. Would you like to be my friends as well?"

Both Victor and Garfield laughed slightly before resuming their grins at the red headed teen. "Sure," Garfield spoke, "Kori was it? I'd like to be your friend. All of us had our first hour class together too. I heard you tell Mr. Mod that is was both of your first days. The same goes for us, as well as another girl I met earlier."

"Really?" Richard asked surprised at the odd coincidence. "That's kind of strange for all of us to show up for our first day on the same day. I mean it's normal if the school year just started, but we're in the middle of the first semester now. That seems strange to me."

"True," Victor agreed as he rubbed his chin like he was thinking hard, "but why no just take this as a sign? I think we should all stick together at least until we are comfortable with the school enough to branch out and make new friends. I think it would help us get used to this whole new kid thing faster, you know dawg."

"I am confused," Kori said as she turned to Richard. "Why does he refer to you as a small four legged animal that barks?"

"It's an expression, Kori," Richard explained. "Give it a month or two and you'll get used to it."

"I hope so," Kori wished softly. "some of your customs still confuse me." Just then, Kori's eyes widened as she remembered what Victor had proposed to them earlier. "Oh, let us be stuck together and become friends. Would that not be wondrous, Richard?"

Richard smiled at Kori. "That sounds good. It'd help relieve some of the stress of actually worrying about fitting in. I don't think I ever caught either of your names."

"Oh," Garfield grinned. "I'm Gar-"

"Garfield," Victor coughed earning him a glare from Gar.

"…and this evil person is Victor," Garfield begrudgingly continued. "How about if we don't have anymore classes together, we'll all meet up during lunch?"

"Sounds good," the dark, spiky haired teen agreed, "but you mentioned something about another girl with you. I assume that that offer would go to her as well. What's her name?"

"OH!" Victor grinned slyly. "Her name is Raven, and there are two things you need to know about her. One, she has a very bad temper, so don't piss her off is you can avoid it. I learned that the hard way, unfortunately. Gar here saved my life with some quick thinking, though I'm sure he enjoyed every second he had his hands on Raven, which brings me to number two. Garfield here li-"

"Victor," Gar growled angrily, "I swear that if you say that one more time, I will… I will do… something very… horrible. God, I'm bad at threatening people."

"Yep," Victor laughed. "Though, you don't have any time for it anyway, 'cause I just spotted Raven alone in the corner."

Gar's head betrayed him as it jerked in the direction Victor was facing to see Raven leaning against the corner of the Gymnasium, several feet away from anyone around her. Something inside Garfield knew that he should not allow that to continue any longer. He did not want to let Raven be alone, even if the only person around her was used as constant fodder. He was prepared for that. All he knew was that he couldn't let her be alone. "I'm gunna go say hi… to be polite, you know? You guys have fun while I'm gone and remember that we're all sitting together at lunch in case the worse happens I don't wake up until then."

Victor grinned at his two new friends as the three of them watched Garfield slowly and hesitantly make his way towards the lone hooded girl. Laughing slightly, Victor turned to Richard and Kori and spoke one final statement before they continued on with whatever they were supposed to actually be doing in Physical Education.

"He likes her."


	4. Partners

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Teen Titans, unfortunately. Any views or opinions expressed in this fan-fiction are strictly those of the author, me. The latter statement is probably just a formality, unless I somehow work my love of all things Canadian **(GO CANADA)** into this fan-fiction. I wish there was an Alternate Universe genre so I could search for some AU fics. Told you this wasn't an AU.Everyone wants a little bit of fluff now and then.

Please Read and review. Constructive criticism wanted.

* * *

**Chapter 4: Partners**

'_Come on,'_ Raven thought frustrated as she stood alone in the darkest corner of the gym she could find. _'Ring you stupid bell! The faster this cursed class from hell starts, the faster it ends.'_ How long it had been since she had entered the doors to the largest room in the school, she did not know, but she was almost to the point where she could not stand another second of this place. She hated the smell of the room. It smelled of unintelligence. She hated the feel of it. She hated what she knew she was going to be forced to do. But, most of all, she hated that she was alone in this dark corner.

All of the other students that had once conversed in the corner Raven now stood seemed to instinctively make their way to the opposite corner of the room leaving her alone to her thoughts. For the most part, Raven usually enjoyed the solitude her life brought her, but she could not help but feel something different inside of her. Something had changed that made her miss the companionship she once had with one of her friends and the one she thought loved her. (A/N: Just to hint, the scars left by reality still influence their minds in the fantasy)

Yet, why would these feelings resurface now. She had gone the greater part of a year without speaking even one word to anyone around her. She left her old city to be completely alone and to leave the traitors she once knew behind. Now, she had caught herself almost wanting to fall into the same trap that she did with them, but why? Because of two people she had… no. She had only spoken to the one person. The green tipped haired teenage boy who called himself Garfield. She had almost completely ignored the other one, Victor was what Garfield had called him. So, it was just that short, apparently game obsessed boy that had brought this feeling back to her.

'_I was perfectly fine with just spending the rest of my life alone,'_ Raven told herself, trying to sound convincing. But, even though that phrase sounded right in her mind, it was far from what her heart told her was true. No one can survive alone their entire life without mental repercussions, and Raven was no different. Through the scars left by the past, she longed for someone to understand her even if she never showed it. She even made a point to act unfazed by her solitary lifestyle, but the chance meeting with Garfield was the first step in breaking the emotional barrier she forcefully erected around herself. She just did not notice yet.

Raven sighed as she leaned back against one of the walls intersecting in the corner. Even though there was a conflict between her heart and mind right now, that was far from what was bothering her right now. There was one thing in her mind that refused to disappear with the rest of the forgotten. There was one thing that continued to nag at the back of her mind. There was one thing that would not be ignored. _'I hate guilt,'_ Raven mentally moaned in frustration. The reason that she wanted this class to end so badly now was because she had made up her mind to seek Garfield out and apologize for her misplaced aggression earlier.

The short, green haired teen did not deserve what she had said to him, and it now ate away at her refusing to let up. She did not expect for him to share this class with her like he did the first, but she was going to find him in between this one and her next. Even though she _wanted_ to be alone, Raven still felt that Garfield deserved at least some form of an explanation why she had just exploded on him in rage. _'I'll just find him and say a quick sorry, then I can go back to enjoying my time alo-'_

"Hey Raven," the voice of Garfield himself jolted Raven out of her own thoughts.

For a moment, Raven did not realize exactly who had interrupted her and she shot an instinctive glare in the direction of the foolish person. To her surprise, if was in face the person she had vowed to search for after class, and what was more surprising was that Garfield somehow could feel that she was glaring at him and recoiled a few feet back even though he had yet to see through the shadows that shrouded her face from view. Immediately after realizing just who it was she was glaring at, Raven forced her expression to soften and she motioned to Garfield that it was okay to continue.

The green haired teen sighed in relief and moved just a few inches closer to the girl before him, still keeping his distance though. He did not want to provoke Raven any more than he no doubt ably already had. "I… um… know you basically said that you didn't ever want to talk t me again, but I just can't leave it like that, ya know. I know after I broke your," Garfield did a set of air quotes which was probably not the best compliment to his current conversation, "no touching rule, you are probably really mad at me, and –"

"Yeah… about that," Raven began timidly as she slowly lowered her head as her gaze was somehow drawn to the floor. Upon hearing the utter… un-Raveny tone in her voice, Garfield raised a confused eyebrow, but thought it best not to interrupt whatever point she was trying to get at. "Look, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to go off on you like that."

Gar was utterly left speechless after the hooded girl's confession. It was the exact last thing he thought she would say to him. In fact, he did not think it was even possible to get her to apologize for something he did wrong, or at least did by mistake. "B-But," he stuttered in confusion, "what about-"

"I was angry, but not at you," she tried to explain when she heard the confusion in his voice. "It's just that your friend, …Victor, he… I just don't respond well to people making fun of me, and my name is a part of who I am. Everything I said to you was just out of anger that you prevented me from unleashing at its designated target, but it was at a point where I couldn't bottle it up like I do everything else. I know I said this before and don't expect to hear it often, but I'm sorry. You didn't deserve that. You've been nothing but nice, as well as a bit clumsy, since I met you, but don't you dare twist that around and accuse me of being all for the idea of a friendship."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Garfield laughed, "but that doesn't change the fact that I still want to be your friend. And don't ask me why, because at this point, I don't even know. I guess the reason might be because I'm interested in you." The green haired boy's eyes widened when his own words reached his ears, and he did not have to see through the shadows concealing Raven's face to see that hers were as well. "Let me rephrase that," he pleaded. "You are interesting to me, and I think I'm attracted to you. …Dang it! I'm drawn to your personality. And, I guess-"

"Just stop," Raven said in her usual dryness trying to hold back the urge to laugh at Garfield's mis… _'Wait! I don't laugh. That was sad not funny.'_ "You seem to have a knack for giving examples of a Freudian Slip."

"Um… What's that?" Garfield asked hopelessly lost.

'_Figures,'_ the mysterious teen thought to herself. "To put it simply, it is when you mean to say one thing, but you say something else that reveals what you are really thinking about."

"Oh!" Garfield smiled. "I get it." His eyes went wide. "No no no no no no. That's not it at all. Well, I guess it kind of is, but it's not what you think I swear. You see, Victor, being the idiot that he is, keeps trying to tell me that I don't like you in a sense of a friend would, but I like you in the sense that a… um… boyfriend would."

From beneath her hood, Raven searched the crowed of people for Victor, and glared daggers at the athlete from across the room.

"So," Garfield continued trying desperately to prove his point, "every time I even think, I somehow hear his voice screaming the things he's been saying ever since we talked during History class. If my slips of the tongue were in fact those… um… Fraudan Slips, it's only because Victor will not shut up about his accusation, but believe me when I tell you that is not what I meant at all."

"Is it?" Raven asked still a little skeptical of Garfield's explanation. Mainly because she had tuned him out to glare at Victor.

"I give you my word that right now, I just want to be your friend if you'll let me." Garfield gave Raven a hopeful smile as he patiently awaited her answer.

"I'll think about it," Raven stated simply, but she surprised herself in that she was not just trying to be nice after she had yelled at him for no reason. She actually was considering his offer. "You can go back to _your_ friend now, while I just stand here alon-"

"Alright everyone," a solitary voice boomed over the chaotic sounds of the numerous conversations going on within the gymnasium. Every pair of eyes in the room immediately turned to the owner of the voice that apparently belonged to their gym teacher. He was your average blonde haired blue eyed man in his id twenties. He was well built, and seemed to fit right in place in the gymnasium. "First thing's first. I want you to stretch out your arms and find the closest person to you. I don't care if you've never seen them before in your life or not. That person is now your new Gym class partner for the rest of the year, or at least until I say otherwise."

"Eeeee!" Kori's squeal could be heard from across the room as she latched onto Richard quickly, and even though he his it well, he was mentally screaming thanking God himself.

Garfield turned to Raven with a shy grin. Nearly everyone else had paired up all but one of the others were running towards a person that they had locked eyes on. "Uh…," he began timidly. "I guess that leaves us, unless you'd really rather not be my partner."

Raven sighed, and her guilt surfaced again, causing her to curse her emotions in her mind. Before she knew it, she had already subconsciously answered gar's question. "I guess." Instantly, Raven heard a swift intake of air from Garfield, and she knew that he was about to do something stupid like yell out the word "go" and his name while doing a victory dance so she had to quickly add her own stipulation. "Unless you do something to screw it up."

Slowly and as silently as he could, Gar let out the large amount of air that he had breathed in for his patented victory dance. In a way, he was glad the Raven had spoken that condition before he made a total fool of himself. Sure, he liked to do the dance, but it often caused the people around him to laugh at his expense. Once his composure was regained, he stated a singular word as calmly as he could. "Deal."

Victor frantically looked around the room searching for someone else that shared in his misfortune of being unpaired. However, to his utter horror, he saw that he was the last one left. "Oh you've got to be kidding me," he said in frustration a little louder than he meant to.

"Tough luck, dude," the gym teacher chuckled. "Looks like you're on your own for now but don't worry. If we get a new student, they're automatically your partner, but for now, why don't you hag out with that couple next to you. Just don't try and steal his girlfriend away from him, okay?"

Richard's anger flared, and the urge to yell that Kori was not his girlfriend out as loud as he could even though it was obvious to him and to everyone else around him that he liked her, but something inside him told him that that would not end well. It almost seemed familiar.

"You should know," Raven spoke as monotonously as she could, "that I really hate this class, and I will do as little as humanly possible to still pass."

"That's kind of a cool attitude," Garfield spoke unknowingly admiring her voice, but quickly caught himself and forced his mind back onto the subject at hand, "but you can't hate this class already. It just started. You have to at least try it. Who knows? You might enjoy it."

"I highly doubt that, Garfield," Raven scoffed as she folded her arms across her chest. Everything was silent, which caused her gaze to shift from a spot on the nearby wall to her green haired companion. For some reason, there was a cheesy grin strewn across his face. "What?" The dark teen asked confused.

"What?" Gar spoke dazed as if his train of thought had been broken. "Oh! Nothing. I was just thinking that that had to be the first time I've heard you actually say my name. I could be wrong, and I just forgot about the other times already, but this time seems unique for some reason."

It was because there was no anger in Raven's voice. She was content. "It's all in your head, Garfield. Don't dwell on things that don't matter. And don't think anything of it. I'll let you know when I have thought about your question long enough to give you an answer."

Garfield laughed. "Whatever you say, Raven. To tell you the truth, I think we're already frie-"

"Hey you two," the loud, booming voice of their gym teacher echoed in the unnaturally silent gymnasium. It did not take Raven long for her to realize that she and Garfield had been the only ones talking. "Quit flirting in the corner." Victor's triumphant laugh stood out above the sea of laughter from the other students. Raven's only regret was that she could not glare menacingly enough to shut them up.

"Just because you two are alone back there doesn't mean that we can't hear your murmurs. However, this might actually be a good time to introduce my unique punishment system, and you two are going to be the first victims… er… examples. Ladies and gentlemen of second hour gym class, it's time for our first two versus forty-seven dodgeball match up."

_llllllllllllllllllllll_

The doors to Mad Mod's secret underground laboratory swished open, revealing the heavily suited figure of Dr. Chang carrying the once lost magical cane of Mod himself. Though his job was done, he could not help but feel that his skills were being wasted by going through with this simple secure and deliver mission, but it had not been entirely uneventful. H had managed to swipe various samples of Robin's gadgets that he kept carelessly lying in his room unguarded. Though he could have probably invented something far more powerful than the child's toys, the allure of finding out just how his weapons worked was too much for him.

However, his mind was getting sidetracked. His personal endeavors could wait until his partner in crime left to fulfill his end of their bargain. He had supplied Mod with the advanced technology needed to ensure all distractions were eliminated, and Mad Mod would in turn repay him with a well deserved amount of interest. The entire science center of Jump City, one of the most valuable sectors of the world since the Wayne Enterprises set up one of their numerous divisions there. All he had to d for his prize to be his was to deliver this silly little keepsake that Mad Mod had talked up. Whatever power it held paled in comparison to what he would in mere days.

"There you are, Chang," the now raspy voice of the elderly Mad Mod echoed thought the room as the old man struggled to lift himself to his feet. "I was beginning to worry that the Titans' former home had gotten the better of you with some primitive security system, but here you are. Safe and sound, lad. With my cane, it seems. Go on, give it here." The last sentence sounded almost desperate as he reached out a shaky hand towards Dr. Chang.

The mad doctor raised an eyebrow at Mad Mod's reaction to the cane, and curiosity got the better of him. "First tell me what it does, then I'll give it to you."

"Fine," Mod, sighed in defeat without even bothering to argue. He was in no condition for it anyway. "It has the power to give life by taking it away."

Though Mad Mod's answer was somewhat vague, it seemed to be enough for Dr. Chang to put two and two together. Though he was evil, he wasn't about to condemn someone to his own death. Besides, the last time he tried to get his hands dirty by taking over the city, Dr. Chang failed miserably. Though one could argue that it was because of the Titans, he thought it best to stick to what he knew best. After all, who better to carry out the conquest f the city than Mad Mod, someone who had actually succeeded before?

"Very well," Dr. Chang said as he carefully handed Mod's cane over to its rightful owner. "As I scientist, I was merely curious. However, I believe you should endeavor to try your regained possession out as soon as possible. You might need to be back to your… former self to finish out our plan."

"Quite right," The elderly Britain agreed. "But, before I go, I need to mention that I forgot to tell you about some glitches in your programming I saw while in the simulator. It might have just been my condition causing my eyes to play tricks on me, mate, but do you think that you could observe the inside for a few minutes. I would hate for our subject's brains to start rejecting the programming for something we overlooked."

"Intriguing," Dr. Chang spoke doubtfully. "That is almost impossible, but since I have some time between now and my reward, I will observe to put your fears to rest."

No answer came from Mod as he watched Dr. Chang walk over to the vacant stasis chamber and secure himself inside. He was too anxious for his partner to activate the machine, that he thought his voice would betray him if he actually spoke. However, he did not have to wait long before the familiar sounds of one of Chang's stasis chambers starting up joined in harmoniously with its counterparts. Soon after, Chang was lost in the illusion.

"I must thank you, my duckie, for the incredible technology you have provided me," Mad Mod laughed slightly as he made his way over to the machine Change now resided in. "And especially the lessons on how to operate them. However, in doing so, you have made your worth t me fall."

Mod quickly punched in a specific code o the keypad connected to the machine, and the monitor nearby flashed red with the words "**Overriding auto-release systems. Intercepting memory portions of brain waves. Replacing… New Occupation: High School Physics Teacher.**"

"Thank you Chang," Mod spoke as he turned for the door. "Your efforts have been highly appreciated, and in return, I want you to enjoy the life you once dreamed of. However, for me, there are brighter and," he grinned at his cane, "younger days ahead for the rest of eternity. Jump City awaits, and I will not keep her waiting for mother Britain."

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**3 updates in 3 days. Maybe I'll be able to write and post that chapter of AtE I missed in the next few days, as well as the one coming Monday.**


	5. Death by Dodgeball

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Teen Titans, unfortunately. Any views or opinions expressed in this fan-fiction are strictly those of the author, me. The latter statement is probably just a formality, unless I somehow work my love of all things Canadian **(GO CANADA)** into this fan-fiction. I wish there was an Alternate Universe genre so I could search for some AU fics. Told you this wasn't an AU.Everyone wants a little bit of fluff now and then. My gym class in High School played dodgeball regularly, which freaked me out a bit considering it was something we all played in elementary school and that school was refurnished and added on to until it became both the elementary school I started at and High School (no longer elementary by the time I got there) I finished at.

**Note:** Ideas for this chapter came from Regrem Erutaerc.

Please Read and review. Constructive criticism wanted.

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**Chapter 5: Death by Dodgeball **

The scene was set on that fateful day when two young teens would fight against all odd for their very survival. Well, one teen planned to fight. The other just planned to stand there until it was all over. After all, this rather unorthodox punishment was just an extension from a meaningless form of entertainment meant to keep little children busy and out of any adult's hair. But the fact remained that they were in high school being forced to play along with the gym teacher's ridiculous castigation. It was, ridiculous to say the least, and yet the two high school students had little choice but to play along.

"For this punishment," the young, gym teacher spoke up as soon as all of the students had retreated to the opposite corner of the gymnasium from Garfield and Raven, "the rules are quite simple. The standard dodgeball rules apply, but I've obviously added a few of my own. The remaining forty seven of your classmates will have exactly ten minutes to hit you with the twenty-four red balls on their side of the gym. However, unlike in standard dodgeball, you two cannot be pegged out. You'll have to endure the entire ten minutes of the other team's barrage of balls. However, I am not about to remove any and all fighting chance you may think you have in this game. If you manage to catch a ball or pick one up off the ground, you can tag someone on the other team out with it. Thus, decreasing the punishment a little. SO, now that we're all clear, are you ready?"

And so, the lines were drawn no so evenly down the middle, and the players were on their mark and in position. Raven merely leaned her full weight back against the wall of the gymnasium and prepared to ride out any mild discomfort that she was about to feel. It was a dodgeball. How badly could it hurt? She was far from worried about the coming consequences, but unfortunately, her green haired companion was the complete opposite.

Garfield Logan was wide eyed and in shock at what he was about to go through. He often had heard stories of cruel and unusual punishment, but this seemed to go even beyond that. Panicking, his mind never even came close to registering that a hollow red ball could not possibly hurt as badly as he was preparing himself for. He was scared, worried, and now sweating beyond his normal limits, but deep down, he was willing and prepared to face what was coming. He fully intended to fight back with every ounce of strength he had. He would not go down without a fight.

"I take it from the dead silence that you all are quite anxious to get things started," the teacher laughed as he loosely gripped his whistle which seemed to be the same kind every gym teacher had no matter where you went. When his only answered were the sinister smiles the larger of the two teams were giving the smaller team, he knew that things were about to get really ugly for the two troublemakers. "Well, okay then. Remember everyone, even though this is physical education, I still want you all to have fun. And… um…," he turned to Raven and Garfield, "good luck you two. You'll need it." With that, he lifted his whistle to his mouth, and a loud annoying sound coming from the metallic object signified the beginning of the end for the two doomed teens.

As soon as the whistle was blown, a massive volley of dodgeballs was launched into the air, blocking out most of opposite side of the gymnasium with a sea of red rushing at the two victims. Raven did just as she had planned. She just stood there, counting the seconds until this pointless confrontation passed and she could return to actually using her brain in her next class. Fortunately for her, no one on the other team seemed to understand the concept of aiming at their actual target. Nothing even came within a foot of her as each ball merely bounced off of the wall beside her and returned to the opposing side as it rolled back on the floor.

However, Garfield was a bit more active than his soon to be friend, but failed to notice the simple things like she did. The green haired teen dramatically dove out of the way of each oncoming ball, not once realizing that they were no where near him. Some seemed to come within inches of his body, but that was only because he tended to accidentally dive towards the balls instead of away from them. But, none of that mattered to Garfield. He had not been hit once in his overly physical dodging performance, and he was beginning to think that nothing in the world could touch him and bring him down from the high he was feeling.

Sighing rather loudly out of boredom, Raven stopped counting the seconds since this meaningless game had began at one minute and eighteen seconds. Resorting to her favorite form of entertainment, other than her newly discovered daydreams of decapitating Victor, the hooded teen pulled out the book that she had stowed away in the front pocket of her hoodie and rather easily blocked out the world around her as she opened up to the marked page and found herself once again engrossed in her favorite novel. Though she was nothing more than an easy target, she had yet to be hit once by the opposing team's attacks. It was almost too much to believe, but Raven no longer cared about such trivial things. Thus, she failed to realize just how close their attempts were getting.

Garfield nimbly dodged another round of attacks that had been aimed at him. He even spotted Victor tossing a few of the balls his way, though not nearly as forceful as the rest of the students. And, no matter how hard he tried, he laughed when he saw Richard still explaining the rules to Kori. Personally, Garfield thought that Kori was just trying to make it to where Richard would not get to engrossed in the game and forget about her, but the green haired teen had seen something in the brief time that he and Victor had spent with them that told him that they were now inseparable even if they wanted to leave the other.

The feeling of a lone ball colliding hard to his stomach shot Garfield out of his musings. He had been lost in thought and had stopped trying to dodge whatever had come his way. The result was a tiny ounce of discomfort, but it was nowhere near the pain he had prepared for. However, before e could collect his thoughts and force his limbs to move again, another ball hit him in the shoulder blade, making him stumble backwards a few feet. The balls were coming faster now, and they were far more accurate than before. It took everything he had to dodge the next one coming at him, and more came soon after.

He was concentrating fully on his mission to survive these ten minutes, but he caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye that made fear erupt within him. It was something that shocked him to the very core. With this new knowledge, his safety did not matter anymore, and if he was going to stop what was about to happen, he had to move faster than he had ever done before. Without any second thought, Garfield took off after the hooded girl who was unaware of the danger she was in.

Raven turned yet another page of her book without even glancing up from the printed words it contained. There was a reason why this was her favorite book. It did so well in projecting an image of the setting and characters that the reader felt that they were sucked into the plot itself, watching as the story began to unfurl first hand. No matter how many times she read this book, something always popped out at her that she never noticed before and she was determined not to let another opportunity pass by.

But something was nagging at the back of the young girl's mind as she forced herself to continue to read. She could sense that something was about to go horribly wrong and that she needed to look up soon, but she just chose to ignore it. Yet, the feeling grew, unwilling to die down until Raven was forced to rip herself from the extravagant scene the words had created in her mind. What she saw horrified her. Her vision was almost completely blocked with a large red mass. Yet, it was not large at all, but five smaller red orbs, and they were just less than ten feet away from all hitting her in the face. There was no time to brace for impact, or even enough to close her eyes. Time seemed to stop as she just stood there frozen as her imminent doom came.

Suddenly, Raven felt pressure on her right shoulder, and before she could realize where it had come from, she found herself stumbling forward out of any immediate danger. Out of habit, Raven spun around to face and glare at the person who invaded her privacy without fully realized what they had just saved her from. It had all happened so fast, and her brain was doing all it could to keep up. What she saw when she turned around made all of her anger subside momentarily. Garfield had pushed her out of the way just in time for her to safely evade the oncoming onslaught. But, she could not figure out why.

Garfield grinned slightly at the confused Raven and opened his mouth to speak the first humorous explanation that came to his mind, but fate never gave him a chance. The balls that he had saved Raven from were now aimed directly at him, and there was nothing going to save the green haired teenager from the fate he had forced himself into. Garfield did not even have a chance to brace himself before the first ball struck, not that he had realized his predicament anyway. He was doomed before it began.

For some reason, the force behind these balls were far greater than the ones previously throws, and unfortunately for Gar, it had enough force to drive his head into the nearby wall hard. The shock sent him into a slight daze as he struggled to remember what was going on. His vision was blurry, but he saw a large blob of blue and an even bigger blob of red. He was hit again, this time with the same reaction as his head bounced off the wall. He could faintly hear someone yelling his name after the second ball, but he had no chance to call back to them. Garfield did not know exactly how many balls hit him in the end, but fortunately he no longer had to endure the pain that they brought. He had blacked out after hitting the wall the second time.

Raven stood there in shock as she watched the fifth and final ball thankfully miss his head but still collide with him in the stomach, causing him to keel over unknowingly before falling forward completely. Instinctively, Raven rushed forward to catch the collapsing teen before he fell to the ground completely. Yet, the fates just seemed to make things worse for the two once again as a well placed ball made Raven trip and stumble into an already descending Garfield. Unable to find her footing with the added weight of the green haired teen in her arms, they ended up falling to the ground together, Garfield on top of Raven.

Victor went wide eyed as he watched the scene unfold on the other side of the gymnasium. Under different circumstances, he would have shouted something like "Get a room, you two" or "Wait until you're alone to molest your girlfriend, Gar," but he could easily see that something was very wrong with his friend. That, and Raven would have killed him with a plastic spoon if he had actually even whispered those things, but that was not the point right now. Garfield was not moving, and he could tell that it was much more than shock that was bothering him. So, he did the only thing he could do.

"Gar!" Victor yelled in panic as he pushed passed the multitude of students oh his current team. His teammates obviously did not have any sympathy. Even now, some were still throwing balls and hitting Garfield in the shoulder or in the back. Could they not see that they were in serious trouble, or did they just not care? Whatever it was, he had had enough, and as he pushed the students in the front of the crowd to the side, he made a mad dash to his downed friend. Victor was defecting. He did not care if he was allowed to or not.

As soon as she heard Victor's panicked cry, Kori's head shot up, and quite reluctantly, away from Richard towards the direction of the cry. Instantly, she saw her new friend Victor, but what was just beyond him made fear and worry flow fervently within her, consuming all of her senses until she could not focus on anything but her fallen acquaintance. "Richard!" Kori almost yelled as she grasped the black haired boy's hand and began to drag him towards the horrific scene. "New friend Gar is in need of assistance. We must help them." Though Richard had not really been paying attention to anything besides Kori, he thought it best to just go along with whatever she was doing.

The fall to the ground had scattered her recollection of the past few minutes briefly, and Raven struggled to put the pieces of what had just happened together in her mind as she lay beneath the boy that had latched onto her as soon as he had met her. Things had just happened so fast before, but clear memories of Garfield being hit slowly faded to the surface of her mind. But, even now that she remembered what had happened, she had no idea what to do next. Here she was lying on her back with Garfield on top of her and his head was right on her… Suddenly, she had the urge to throw him back into the wall, but that urge quickly subsided when she saw that his eyes were still closed. They had been since his second trip into the wall.

"Garfield," she spoke as she shook the boy slightly, the worry was evident in her voice and she was just thankful that no one else was near her to hear it. "Wake up, Garfield." She shook him again, but still with no luck. Hearing footsteps near her, she instinctively rolled the green haired boy off of her and positioned herself leaning slightly over him on her knees to his side.

Victor slid the last few feet to his friend's unconscious body. He wanted to try and shake him awake, but it seemed that Raven had already tried that many timed. "How is he?" Victor asked worriedly as he ignored the sounds of Kori and Richard coming up behind him.

"How does he look?" Raven shot back angrily, making Victor cringe. She ignored it as she looked up at him, noticing the two standing behind the athlete. She glared at them, thinking that they were the ones who threw the balls. "Who are they?"

"Whoa!" Victor stood protectively in front of Richard and Kori. "Chill out, Raven. They're friends Gar and I made after you stormed off in the hallway. They didn't do anything."

Raven did not know them, so she did not trust them but she had other business to attend to at the moment. Glaring past Victor and the two now fearful teens, Raven eyed the other team menacingly as she slowly stood to her feet. "Stay with him," was the only thing she said to the three as she briskly walked away from Garfield, hoping to draw the fire of the balls that were still coming. Reaching up with her left hand, Raven pulled her hood down to her shoulders so that the other team could see her glare first hand. As soon as her purple hair came into the light, everything stopped for a second before some of the opposing team began to laugh.

Raven was mad. _'How dare they aim at **my** face with five balls.'_ She did not care about herself. _'How dare they even try to attack me when I was just standing there.'_ She did not care about her own pain. _'And now they have the nerve to laugh at me.'_ She was angry because Garfield got hurt. _'I'll make them pay.'_ But she would not even admit it to herself.

As the bombardment of balls restarted on her, Raven only stood there again glaring at everyone in front of her. However, she shocked them all when she caught the only two that even came close to her. Smiling wickedly she thought to herself, _'This should be fun.'_

_llllllllllllllllllll_

The young physical education teacher fell to his knees in horror at the scene before him. Never had he seen something so brutal occur in less than three minutes. Never had he seen a girl unleash that much anger on that many people at a time. Never had his punishment backfired so badly, but never had he met the hooded girl named Raven. She had not held back anything in her attacks, and she gave no sympathy to those who begged for it. She was a one girl army, and she had completely annihilated the opposition single handedly. Shakily, the teacher brought his whistle up to his mouth and blew weakly to signify the end of their "punishment."

Groans of pain filled the gymnasium all around the room as Raven dropped the ball she was clutching tightly and looked around at her handiwork. Teenagers were scattered across the floor, writhing in agony. Some were twitching on the floor. Some were squirming on the nearby bleachers. Some were to weak to move at all and just laid perfectly still. One was even stuck in a basketball net hanging from the backboards. No one quite knew how that one had gotten up there, but one thing was for sure. None were left standing before Raven's might. She made sure of that.

Satisfied with her work, Raven smirked briefly before turning around and returning to the side of her fallen friend. _'Yes,'_ Raven thought to herself. _'He is my friend now. If he is willing to go through that kind of punishment for me, then the least I can do is tolerate him around me. I owe him that much.'_ But the truth was, she was more worried than even she let on to herself. As she neared the green haired boy, her palms began to sweat, and visions of the worst case scenario rushed through her mind. Forcing herself to remain steady, Raven slowly kneeled down beside Victor and looked on at the unconscious Garfield.

"How is he?" Raven asked praying that her voice would not sound as she felt on the inside, terrified.

Victor smiled at Raven relieved. "He'll be fine, girl." The athletic teen even managed to laugh a little. "He's just out for a bit. Garfield here will wake up eventually. I checked his head, and there's no bleeding, and his skull seems intact, so he should be fine in no time."

"How could you possibly tell by just looking at him," Richard asked in disbelief.

"Man, with all the sports I play, I've seen about every type of injury you could imagine." Victor turned back to Raven and smiled knowingly. "He'll be fine. You can stop worrying."

Raven was about to say thank you when she caught the implying look in his eyes, and she knew right then exactly what he was thinking. She had to put a stop to it quick. "Why would I care? You think I wanted to be saved? I was just standing there for a reason, waiting for it all to be over when he came along and did this to himself. The only thing he is going to get from me when he wakes up is a verbal if not physical beatin-" No one noticed when Garfield's eyes slowly opened, but Raven was the first to notice when she felt a hand pressed gently against her cheek.

Surprised, the dark girl looked down to see Gar smiling up at her weakly. "So beautiful," he muttered before his hand fell to the floor once again. "Must be an angel," he mumbled to himself before falling back unconscious.

Victor held back a laugh as he watched intently for Raven's reaction, and it was well worth the wait. A deep crimson immediately spread across the entire face of the teenaged girl, and she quickly pulled her lowered hood back over her head to try and hide what she was feeling from the others. But Victor had seen it, and it was just too much for him to hold in and he soon erupted in a fit of laughter that echoed throughout the entire gymnasium.

Needless to say, Raven was not too happy about that.

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**Has to be the most dramatic dodgeball scene I've ever written... though it is the first... so... whatever. **


	6. Accusation

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the Teen Titans, unfortunately. Any views or opinions expressed in this fan-fiction are strictly those of the author, me. The latter statement is probably just a formality, unless I somehow work my love of all things Canadian **(GO CANADA)** into this fan-fiction. I wish there was an Alternate Universe genre so I could search for some AU fics. Told you this wasn't an AU.Everyone wants a little bit of fluff now and then. My gym class in High School played dodgeball regularly, which freaked me out a bit considering it was something we all played in elementary school and that school was refurnished and added on to until it became both the elementary school I started at and High School (no longer elementary by the time I got there) I finished at. Why does it seem that laziness increases ten fold when you are at college?

Please Read and review. Constructive criticism wanted.

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**Chapter 6: Accusation**

Raven sat somewhat alone in a small room lined with a few beds placed inside for an emergency. After the bell had sounded, ringing above the chorus of moans and groans in the gymnasium, Raven had ordered a bruised and battered Victor, whom had foolishly unleashed the last remaining drops of Raven's anger upon himself, to carry the unconscious Garfield to the nurse's office. That is where she sat now, along with the limp green haired boy lying comfortably in one of the beds beside her, though _her_ false reasoning in her mind had nothing to do with Garfield's condition at all. In fact, she tried hard to keep her mind as far away from the green haired boy as possible even though she had accepted him as a friend in her mind before.

She was still quite angry after Victor had laughed at her and unintelligently accused of something that had absolutely no foundation at all. She had known Garfield for less than three hours and there was absolutely no way that she could have developed the type of feelings for him that Victor accused her of harnessing. Needless to say, the only reason that Victor was not currently lying in the opposite bed across the room was that she needed someone to carry Garfield, and she did not know the two newcomers long enough to trust them. Not that she knew Victor, but Garfield had trusted him with his friendship, so she had made a small exception, though she still made it a priority to glare at the athletic teen periodically to et him know that he was not anywhere close to being off the hook. She was still furious with him, so when they did reach the nurse's office, he did the first intelligent thing he had seen him do today, he dropped Gar off and ran to his next class, leaving Raven behind alone with her new friend.

Thus, she allowed Victor to his small victory of escaping her wrath for the moment, and took a seat next to where the nurse had laid Garfield. In her mind, it was because what her instincts were telling her to do with Victor would result it a rather large fine or even jail time. Though she was far from afraid of the consequences, it was far simpler and more logical to let things be for now… at least until there were no witnesses around to convict her. But, for now, she would control her anger by staying away from the athlete. However, that was all just a collection of feeble attempts to distract her own mind from the real reason that she stayed with the green haired teen. She was worried.

Well, that did not quite cover exactly what she felt at the moment. It was far more accurate to say that she was terrified, but Raven did her best to hide it on the outside. To any others who happened to look into the back room of the nurse's office by chance, they would see a short, unconscious boy with a very calm and collective hooded girl beside him. Raven just sat there stolid and emotionless, but on the inside, she was frantically trying to distract her fear with anger towards Victor. She'd allow herself to be angry, but she was and had always been above fear. At least that is what she had told herself on countless occasions, but even her resolve was beginning to falter with every extra moment that Garfield spent unmoving.

Ever since he had groggily made the comment about Raven while lying on the gymnasium floor, Garfield had not awoken again. He had not even stirred in his unconscious state. He had just lied there peacefully as Raven watched on protectively. The nurse had come and gone long ago and said that his head was fine and that Garfield would awaken on his own at any time. She also encouraged Raven to go on to class and said that it was not proper for a young lady to cut her first day of classes, even if she was looking after her boyfriend. It took every ounce of willpower that Raven had not to decapitate the nurse with the unsharpened pencil that had been discarded on the floor who knows how long ago, but she managed to calm herself in the end and she just silently sat there until the nurse gave up and left the two alone but not before mumbling something about teenage love.

And so, Raven sat angry at Victor for insinuating something he really should not have, angry at the nurse for following up on Victor's insinuations, angry at the students in her physical education class for laughing at her when she removed her hood, angry at the world for placing her in this position, angry at the pencil on the floor for some reason she could not quite figure out, and most of all, relieved that Garfield would be okay but still a little bit terrified that the nurse could have been wrong. But, just like the entire time she had been in the nurse's office, she did nothing to reveal her feelings to anyone who might be brave enough to glance at her. She did her best to conceal her conflicting emotions, but her efforts were shattered when a low, groggy moan reached her ears. Faster and more desperately than she wanted it to seem, she shot her head down towards the previously unconscious Garfield.

Gar uncomfortably stirred on the hard surface he was laying on as he entered that short but powerful period where a person is neither asleep nor awake but equally close to being each. Jumbled memories bombarded his sleepy mind as he grew closer to regaining his full consciousness. He remembered the color red and… a lot of pain shortly afterward, but he could not quite make sense of it. It was all too confusing, but his memories were getting clearer as the last bits of sleep were drained from his body.

Slowly, Garfield forced his eyes open, though they stung a bit as the first bright rays of light came into contact with his eyes, and the first thing he saw was a very blurred blob of blue and black. Instantly, his mind raced to the farthest realistic possibility (as it usually did) and the thought of him being abducted by alien blobs took over his mind. He was seconds away from jumping to his feet and making a break for freedom when, on the sixth blink, everything seemed to come into focus perfectly and he saw a sight that made him smile. Raven was watching over him as he slept, but something did not quite add up.

'_Why is Raven in my room?'_ Garfield asked himself in confusion. It was not normal for girls to be in his room with him alone, though his male hormones told him differently. He had never had a girl in his room before, and it was far from likely that there would be one this soon after he had moved to this city. Yet, as he looked around the room he was now in in confusion, he realized that was not his room at all. It was far too clean to be his room. _'Where am I?'_

"How's your head?" Raven asked when she noticed the confused look in Garfield's eyes.

"My… head?" Memories of the killer red balls and the seemingly harder than usual wall flooded his mind. He was about to respond when a sharp pain rose in the side of his head. "Ouch," he said as he cradled the left side of his head with one hand. The pain had returned with the memories it seemed, but he did not remember everything. "What happened, and where am I?"

Raven sighed. "I was hoping you could tell me your perspective. I know what happened, but I don't know why."

"Well," Garfield laughed, "some of us still don't know exactly what happened, so could you fill me in. I just remember being hit by a red ball and seeing the wall out of the corner of my eye. It all goes blurry after that and I remember this dream about this purple haired angel watching over me."

Raven blushed as she remembered what Gar had called her in his drowsy state. "We were being punished," the hooded girl began to explain, not really looking forward to the part of retelling how Garfield got hit, "and it was you and I in a game of dodgeball against everybody else in the class." Garfield had his hand on his chin and his brow furrowed like he was trying his best to remember what Raven was telling him. "I was doing nothing to keep from getting hit. Truthfully, I didn't really care and I could not fathom how being hit by a hollow rubber ball could hurt enough to be any form of punishment. You, however, were doing everything you could to not get hit. You were –"

"- jumping and crouching and even rolling around like an idiot," Garfield interrupted laughing at himself and his foolish antics. "I kind of remember now, Raven. I remember seeing a group of balls in an almost perfectly straight line headed directly at you, so I just did the first thing that came to mind and did my best to get you out of harm's way. That when the unpleasantness began and that's all I can remember. What happened after that?"

"Why did you save me, though?" Raven asked, ignoring Garfield's question. "How could you possibly care if I get hit? I mean, talking to me is what got you into that situation in the first place."

Gar shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "I guess 'cause that's what friends do, Raven." He chuckled lightly before looking the girl straight in the... err… hood. "Weather you want to be or not, I already consider you my friend, and I'm the kind of person who would do anything for a friend. Now, can you tell me how I got here and where exactly here is. There's a big hole I'm missing in my memory, and I don't like feeling out of the loop. How long was I out?"

"I had Victor bring you here," Raven stated simply. "He was more than happy to carry you. Never complained once. You've been unconscious for the second half of physical education and now," she looked at the clock n the wall, "the first half of your next class."

"So…" the green haired boy tried to word his next sentence perfectly. He did not want to make Raven mad, but he did not want to sound ungrateful either. "Why exactly are… you… still here. I mean, I'm glad you are. It's nice to wake up to a familiar face, but you have to be missing your next class too, and I can't picture you as the type to cut classes on a whim. Sure, you deem dark at first glance, but you are more the type of person who tried to make people _think_ you are all bad. Maybe it's a defense mechanism you have or something. So, why are you here with me?"

"Um…" Raven did not really have an answer, and the question was one that she had prayed he did not ask. She had made up countless excuses for herself, but none of them seemed good enough for Garfield to believe. Thus, her voice trailed off and her eyes fell to the floor.

"No freaking way," Garfield grinned triumphantly as he rose to his feet, never letting his eyes off of Raven. He pointed a finger in mock accusation, and forced a gasp to escape his lips. "You were worried about me!" Raven's head shot up to look at the smirking teen standing above her. Garfield could feel her glare on him, but he no longer cared. "You, Ms. I'm not his anything," he foolishly continued, ignoring the obvious repercussions to his actions, "were worried about me. You consider me a friend, don't you?"

That was it. Truth or not, Raven was going to deny it. Angrily, she rose to her feet and glared daggers at Gar. "I do not!" She yelled with every ounce of false anger she could summon from within her, causing the nurse to give them an odd look from the other room, but they both ignored it. Though she denied it, Garfield's smug grin did not fade, causing Raven to scoff and begin walking out of the room.

Garfield quickly grabbed a note from the nurse and rushed back to Raven's side. As soon as he caught up with her, he slowed his pace to match her stride and put both hands behind his head grinning stupidly. "So… as my **friend**," Raven glared at him but he just laughed it off, "I guess you wouldn't' mind me walking you home after school then? I mean, it seemed to me that this morning, you and I live in the same direction. I'd be more than happy to see you home safely, though I get the feeling that you could take anything the world could throw at you during your walk home, but I believe that deep down, you wouldn't mind the company."

Oh how true that statement was, but letting Garfield now the factualness on his statement was the last thing she needed right now. "I can see now way around it. That is, unless I result to physical harm to drive you away, which, if you keep mocking my decision to accept your friendship, has a high probability of occurring. So, if I was you, and I'll start thanking whatever higher power there is from this moment onward that I am not, I would not press the issue further." Perhaps she could have gone without that shot at the green haired boy, but what is done is done, and it was too late to take it back now.

Fortunately, Garfield took no heed to Raven's stab at his ego. In fact, it seemed to make him smile even wider as if he thought it were some sort of friendly banter they had between him. However, unfortunately, the green haired teen also took no heed to Raven's advice, though the fates knew that he desperately needed to. "Aww. Come on, Rae." _'Dude, where'd that nickname come from? I like it! I'm gunna use it again.'_ "You never know what you have until it is gone. I think you'd be pretty sad if one f your **friends** stopped talking altogether. You know you like my company, so I think you'd love it if I walked you home. Isn't that right, Rae?"

Ever heard the phrase "it's not fun staring down a loaded gun?" Apparently, Garfield had not. Before her eye could even finish twitching, Raven gripped the collar of the green haired teen's shirt and shoved him up against the nearby lockers. Inside, Raven cringed when she heard the back of Garfield's head bang against the lockers, but she was too close to making her point to show any weakness now. She could plainly see the fear in Garfield's eyes, but she pushed her concern aside. She had to make her statement.

"Don't **ever** Rae. My name is Raven." With that, she let go of the frightened Garfield, and turned to walk away not bothering to even glance back.

With Raven ahead of him, Garfield did a short victory dance because she had not once denied or revoked his pride before hurrying after his friend. For now, at least, he was on Raven's good side, and he would like to keep it that way. But the fact that he had accomplished his task (but not yet realizing his second yet), had almost been enough for him to throw all hindrance aside in his actions, but that no doubt ably would have gotten him stuffed in a trash can or his locker or one of those little tubs of jell-o. None of which he enjoyed. "So, what class are you supposed to be in now?" Gar asked, deciding not to push his luck any further than he already had.

Raven sighed relieved that Garfield was not going to make her do something that she might not regret. "Physics," she answered plainly.

"Awesome!" The green haired teen laughed. "So do I. Isn't that awesome? This makes three out of three. What are the odds we'll get to our seventh class today and still be together?"

A loud groan of annoyance escaped Raven as the duo turned the next corner as they headed towards their next class together with Raven trying desperately to block out the ramblings of her companion. _'This is going to be a long day,' _Raven thought angrily. _'Between Victor and Garfield, I don't know who I am more likely to kill, and it's only the first day. If there is a God, they're going to need his help. Otherwise, I'll be attending a funeral all too soon.'_

_llllllllllllllllllll_

Somewhere in a nearly empty playground in Jump City's park, a young five year old girl sat alone in the swing set after her parents had gone to use the restroom. She did not have a single care in the world as she swung herself higher and higher into the air above her. Nothing mattered to her other than getting that extra inch off the ground, so it came as a surprise to her when a wrinkly hand reached out and gripped one of the chains that suspended the swing from the wooded plank above. As she slowed to a stop, the owner of the hand came into her view. At first, she was angry that the man had stopped her swinging, but she had always been taught to respect her elders and listen to what they had to say. Maybe her rage could have saved her from what happened next, but as a single statement escaped the man's lips, she could not refuse.

"Ever wanted to be one of the big girls, little duckie?"

* * *

**Okay, so I am comfortable with my campus now, and I've made an adequate amount of friends. Been to 3 parties, and now it is back to writing constantly for me. For your enjoyment, I'll try to get all three updated regularly like I usually do.**


	7. AN: A long, overdue reunion

You all may or may not be happy to know that I am alive and well, though a bit mentally exhausted. This semester has been a rough introductory into college. Some classes were simple, and some classes have a teacher who took pleasure in making my life a living hell. However, those times seemed to have passed and I am discovering more and more free time where there was none before. And that is good news for me as well as you. I'm going to get back to fervently updating my fics. Probably one at a time, though. I think you can figure out which on is first. Anyway, I just need to ask you for a little more patience. I'm working on my next update. You'll have it soon. I promise.

- Drew


	8. Unveiled

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Teen Titans, unfortunately. Any views or opinions expressed in this fan fiction are strictly those of the author, me. The latter statement is probably just a formality, unless I somehow work my love of all things Canadian **(GO CANADA)** into this fan fiction.

**Note: **Updates will be anywhere from Friday to Sunday. Chapters now have a minimum of eight thousand words, but I will aim at ten thousand if time allows. Woo.

**Note 2: **Just to clarify something, as I have written and hinted at in previous chapters, the only thing that has changed about the Titans are their memories. Previous emotional ties to specific other Titans and other people stay, but they only feel drawn to that person. That's why Vic and Gar hit it right off, and why Kori and Richard latched onto each other, but it is up to them to go with what their heart tells them.

* * *

**Chapter 7: Unveiled**

How far should a man go to live? Can anyone truly blame someone who is forced to extremes when faced with their own mortality? Some people would do anything just to live for a few seconds longer than they should, though some would do the natural thing and accept their fate and die without a fight. In truth, the human existence revolves around eternal struggle. In his heart, Mad Mod realized this, and that is why he chose to fight when the doctors that examined him while in jail told him that he had less than a year to live. It does not matter who you are or how strong your will is, possessing knowledge of your own mortality will change your life forever. Mad Mod's world was shattered, and he could not bring himself to listen to whatever the doctors told him next. It did not matter what the disease's name was. The fact was that Mod should of died from the disease, but he promised himself that he would not go down without a fight.

Mod needed the youth of others once again. It was the only sure fire cure. Doing so would reverse his genetic structure back to a specific point of time in his life. Thus, eliminating any illness developed after that time and giving him a second chance at life. Revenge set his eyes on the Titans, but he quickly dismissed that idea. No matter at what age the Titans were, they were still trouble. Drawing their youth was completely out of the question. However, that did not change the fact that he still needed to get them out of the way long enough for his plans to succeed. From that moment on, Mod planned each and every detail of the chain of events that would eventually lead him right here to this point in time.

The sickly old man leaned heavily on his high tech cane for support as he looked straight into the eyes of innocence. The little girl was rambling on about wanting to be just like her mother when she grew up and that she could not wait for that to happen. Mod really was not paying her much attention. The question he asked previously was more rhetorical than anything because no matter what the girl answered, he was going to sap her youth anyway. There was no other choice for him, and even if there was another alternative, this way was far more fun, and the eventual benefits were worth the effort.

Knowing the probability that the little girl's parents were caring enough to not leave her alone for more than a few minutes, Mad Mod decided that if he was going to do anything at all to this girl, he was going to have to do it now, or risk getting caught. He had come too far to screw up at this point. Ignoring the little girl's random statements about her life, Mad Mod shakily lifted his cane up towards the now confused little girl and smiled knowingly at what was about to occur.

"Mine again," Mad Mod coughed one final time, "my wasted youth." With that, a blinding flash of light emanated from the gem on the head of the cane and enveloped the entire area around the duo. Eventually, the light began to slowly die down, and Mad Mod grinned to himself as he once again felt the awesome power of youth flowing through his veins. The pain in his joints that he constantly experienced was merely a forgotten memory now. His skin, once covered in wrinkles, was now as smooth as it had been in his early adulthood, and his disease was no longer an issue. He was cured.

However, the once elderly villain had yet to achieve the exact age that he had achieved in his last attempt to conquer the city. His teenaged years was his goal, but rather than sapping all the youth out of one person to obtain that goal in one use, Mod had planned a much more useful means to go about things. Why place one person at the age he was at, anyway? Doing so would only make them be able to do less in the world he was going to create, and because he did not have army of custom built machines like last time, he would need to rely on the strength of others. At least for the moment, that is. Not that the elderly were useless to him; Mod just needed the people in his future empire to be at peek strength. They were going to help him recreate the city in his image, and the more people at their peek physical aptitude, the faster it could get done.

Thus, just as Mad Mod felt and looked merely twenty years younger, the innocent little girl who had been swinging by herself without a care in the world looked and felt at least twenty years older. Thankfully, the girl's previous attire managed to stretch to accommodate her new appearance during the transformation, and there was a lot of stretching done. With her new appearance, the little girl could easily pass as a supermodel who took her work very seriously. After all, technically, the girl had not eaten anything in twenty years, and many of the top models come close to starving themselves in a similar manner each and every day. Yet, as the little girl looked on at the now younger man in front of her in confusion, the swing she was sitting on, not being made for a person in their mid twenties, suddenly collapsed out from underneath her, sending the girl falling to the cold, hard ground on her butt. Reacting like any young child would, tears soon filled her eyes before she erupted in a downpour of sobs while crying out for her mommy.

Mad Mod stood up at full height for the first time in years without an agonizing pain stopping him halfway up, and took in his surroundings with his newly renewed senses. Everything seemed clearer, brighter, and more vibrant to him now. It was almost like he was looking at the world around him for the first time, but for the second time. Content with the world around him and deciding it was best to make his quick escape, Mod swiftly spun around and ran from the scene, appreciating once more what it felt like to run and have the wind at your face because of it. He loved it, and there was no way he would ever give up this feeling again.

_llllllllllllllllllll_

Kori was miserable. There was nothing she could do to prevent it. She just felt horrible, and what made it worse was that there was nothing she could do about it. The worse thing imaginable had happened to her in the first five minutes of her physics class. Well, it was the worst thing imaginable by her. She and Richard had been separated by her, in her opinion, evil new teacher, Professor Chang. True, they were still in the same room, and if she tried hard enough, she could probably still touch his table if she stretched far enough diagonally behind her from where she sat, but with their new assigned seats, it would make the action very difficult. However, none of that did anything to comfort the red headed girl at the moment. Right now, Kori felt alone.

With Richard, she had felt something swell within her that she had never felt before. She felt safe, like nothing bad could happen to her even if the devil himself tried. In the very short time that she had known the dark haired boy, Kori had become quite attached to him, almost as if she had been friends with him before or if she had been waiting for him all of her life. For that reason, it was near impossible for her to imagine being anywhere but at Richard's side when he was almost in arms length as he was now. Yet, here she was, sitting alone with what could have just as well been miles between her and Richard, and she hated it.

Hers was one of the only tables that lacked the second person sitting at it to make it complete. At the beginning of the class, Kori had rushed to force Richard at a table with her, but her comfort in that position did not last long. Professor Chang had forcibly paired up people by gender. Unfortunately for Kori, she seemed to be the odd girl out and ended up being paired up with an empty chair. Part of her sympathized with her new friend Victor, who seemed to be in the same position she was in at the back of the classroom, but another part of her wished that it was Victor instead of Richard who had gotten paired up with someone. That way, she would have a little extra incentive to plead her case for the teacher to allow her to pair up with a boy, as futile as it would have been. But alas, wishing for the past to be changed was not going to get her anywhere. She just had to deal with the feeling and hope for another girl to show up, one that would not be against the idea of becoming her friend in less than a minute's time. That is, unless she could somehow find a solution to her problem on her own.

Needless to say, Richard was not enjoying this class period at all, but his frustration paled in comparison to Kori's, though he had no way of knowing that she was feeling almost the exact same thing he was feeling right now. He could not even come close to forcing himself to pay attention to whatever the professor was talking about at the front of the class. Whatever it was, it somehow required three chalk boards and five pages of printed notes he gave to each student to explain. Briefly, Richard flipped through the pages of the handout, trying to get his mind off of the feeling that he was missing something, though he knew exactly what it was.

'_Electromagnetism,'_ Richard read mentally, not really paying attention to what he was reading, _'Magnetic Reactors, top ten things you will be tested about on Professor Chang.' _Richard rolled his eyes. _'This just might be the worst taught class in history.'_ Richard sighed and pushed the papers as far away from him as the small two seater desk would allow. _'This isn't working. I give up.' _Relenting to his inner desires, Richard slowly, and as inconspicuously as he could, shifted his gaze from the front of the room to the tall, red headed girl near the front of the classroom. He didn't really know how it happened, but it did, and he found himself growing more and more infatuated with the strange foreign girl he had been paired up with when he first arrived at school.

What was it about her that captured his attention? Even he did not know exactly. It was like his entire world had begun to revolve solely around her without any warning or sign at all. It just happened, and he was glad it did. Completely forgetting about everything related to physics, Richard focused his attention entirely on Kori. It was no mystery how she first started to invade his mind within the first thirty seconds of knowing her. In his mind, Kori was the most beautiful girl in the universe. He was convinced that there was no way that any other girl that he would ever meet in his lifetime could compare to what he saw in the red head at the front of the class, but her looks were no longer the only things he saw when he looked at her.

The more time that passed when he was near her, the more he learned about her and the more he wanted to know more. No. He did not want to. He had to know more. It was one thing to learn about what types of foods her home country had to offer or what kinds of traditions her family had, but he needed to know more about her specifically. As beautiful and seemingly naïve as she was, she was a complete mystery to Richard, and that appealed to him. If there was one thing he was attracted to, it was a mystery. _'I really have to learn more about her,'_ Richard thought to himself as his gaze turned more and more dreamy.

For some reason, Professor Chang's voice rose in volume several times over, scaring Richard's eyes back to the front. Had he been caught, or was Chang merely emphasizing some random point in his lecture? Fortunately enough, the former did not seem to be the case. Chang's back was still turned to the class because he was adding a small side note in the last unwritten area of the chalk board. Silently, Richard wiped off the small bead of sweat that had quickly accumulated on his brow. _'Okay. That was way too close,'_ Richard thought in relief._ 'The last thing I need is to get in trouble on the first day. I better just endure this class so I can hang out with Kori later safely.'_

Without warning, Richard suddenly felt a small, almost insignificant feeling on the side of his head. Thinking that it was probably nothing, he was about to shrug it off, but the sound of crumpled paper hitting the wooden table he was seated at let him know that something out of the ordinary had just happened. Making sure that Chang did not hear the soft sound the paper had made, Richard waited a few seconds before looking down and picking up a tightly folded piece of notebook paper that landed near his free hand. After carefully unfolding the paper and praying that the noise was soft enough to go overlooked by Chang and the rest of the class, Richard read the sentence that made his eyes bulge and his face grow pale.

**You like her, don't you?**

Quickly forcing himself to regain his composure, Richard twisted around in his desk only to see Victor on the verge of laughter. Grumbling under his breath, the dark haired teen pocketed the note, refusing to respond to the allegations of the person Kori had accepted as a new friend, however true those allegations were. However, Richard's attempt to end Victor's proposed notated conversation went unheeded as he felt yet another irritating sensation appear on the side of his head. Obviously, Victor was not one to allow himself to be ignored. Mentally groaning, Richard silently unfolded this second note, hoping that if he humored Victor, he would stop annoying him about Kori.

**I don't know what is up with everyone denying these things. I mean, it's so obvious to me. Why else would you have spent the first part of class staring at her all lovey duvy like? **

Sadly, a blush was forced upon Richard's cheeks after reading what Victor had last sent to him. His first instinct was to retaliate, but he did not have enough information on the athletic teen to throw back at him. The only thing left for him to do was plead his case and hope that his annoying new friend would back down. Quietly, Richard wrote down a warning that the teacher might catch them if he kept this up and that it was in both of their best interests to continue this conversation after class. It did not take long for the note to find its way back to the side of his head.

**Don't change the subject on me, man. Besides, the Professor has had his back to the class this whole time. It's like he's talking to himself. You can go back to drooling over your girlfriend. In fact, I'd recommend it now.**

That left Richard confused, and the more he reread that last part, the more confused he became. Eventually, he gave up on trying to read between the lines and wrote back asking what it was that he meant by that. As annoying as the slight impact to the side of the head was becoming for Richard, he welcomed the feeling this time if it shed some light on how Victor's mind worked. Opening the paper up, he read the words to himself that confused him even more.

**Look again.**

Raising an eyebrow, Richard could not help but think that this was yet another thing that Victor would do that would lead to more teasing in the long run. Thus, the dark haired teen made every effort he could to force himself not to comply with the athletic teen's request.

After having been fed up with being alone and so far away from the person who was supposed to make her feel welcomed in this new school, Kori had decided to take matters into her own hands. As she kept a close eye on her teacher, hoping and praying that he would not turn around any time soon and catch her, the young, red headed girl silently lifted her chair off of the ground and slowly carried it towards her chosen destination. Luckily for her, none of the other students in the classroom seemed to mind or even care about what Kori was doing in front of them. They just continued paying attention to whatever Chang was saying up at the front of the classroom, almost as if they were staring straight through her. However, Kori was not focused on them but at her destination and who was waiting for her there. Quickly but stealthily reaching her goal, Kori had gently set her seat down next to an unaware Richard, who at the time seemed to be paying more attention to something on a small piece of paper than anything else. However, she was more than willing to wait. After all, she was once again reunited with her friend. Nothing could go wrong.

Continuing his attempt to keep his gaze from Kori's position, Richard soon found that the more he refused to allow himself to give in to temptation, the more he found himself unknowingly shifting his eyes in the direction where Kori was seated, causing his gaze to roughly jerk back to the front of the room whenever he realized exactly what he was doing. Yet, it was only a matter of time before his gaze overpowered his mental defenses, and he found his eyes locked on the table where Kori was seated, or more accurately, where she had been seated. Neither she nor her chair was there anymore.

'_What the,'_ Richard's mind stuttered slightly in panic. _'Where'd Kori go?' _All thoughts of Victor mocking him and reservations about getting caught not paying attention by Professor Chang were abruptly erased from his mind as the realization that Kori was missing conquered every possible area of his thoughts, and the sunglasses wearing teen frantically began looking around the room for his lost companion. Unfortunately for him, Richard was making a large amount of noise and putting forth little effort to cover up his actions, and the sheer amount of noise coming from the troubled teen as he twisted in his chair quickly alerted Chang.

No matter where Richard looked around the room, Kori was nowhere to be found, though his common since had yet to tell him that he was overlooking the one place she actually was. However, he never got the chance to come to that conclusion on his own. Seemingly out of nowhere, Richard felt a gentle hand on his shoulder as if the owner wanted to calm whatever it was that was troubling him. Wondering who the owner could possibly be, Richard turned to face whoever it was that had just invaded his personal space. To his shock, Kori was seated directly beside him with a warm and content smile on her face.

"Ahh!" Richard yelled in surprise while his body involuntarily jerked backwards, sending him falling out of his chair and to the floor.

Needless to say, if Chang had not been alerted to the mischief going on behind him before, he was aware of it now. Dropping the chalk he was holding down onto the tray, he angrily turning around to face whoever it was that was disrupting his class period. "Ms. Anders," Professor Chang spoke frustrated with the young girl in front of him, "I have assigned seats in this class for a reason, and I expect you to respect that. Unless you want to be punished for your blatant disregard for my rules, I suggest that you return to your own table," Chang raised an eyebrow at the fact that Richard was on the floor at Kori's feet with a shocked and confused look on his face, "and leave your obvious current infatuation with the boy on the floor until after class."

The blush on her cheeks was overshadowed by her despair as Kori's shoulders drooped, and her head fell down in despair as her evil teacher's orders filled her ears. She had come so far to be by Richard's side again only to be forced back to where she began. She wanted to hate this new teacher, but had always found it impossible to hate anything at all. But one thing was for certain, Professor Chang was not a nice man in her eyes and would never be her friend. Reluctantly, Kori slowly and rather noisily dragged her chair back to her table near the front of the room. With every step she took, the loneliness she had felt before grew more and more.

"And as for you," Professor Chang pointed to the still grounded and even more confused than before Richard, "get up off of the floor and pay attention. Just because one girl seems to have latched onto you doesn't mean that you have to disrupt **my** class period." Richard nodded while quickly making it back up into his seat as a slight blush rose to his cheeks when the pieces of what just happened began to put themselves together in his mind. "As for the rest of you," Chang continued on his rant, "I expect a repeat of this to never happen again. However, the fact of the matter is that if you pay attention to me and the material in your book, I usually do not care about what you do. However, whenever something else becomes more important than physics, I will take action against the people who choose to disrupt my class by drawing my attention to them. From now on, I will not be as lenient as I was this time. Take heed of that."

As Chang was about to get back to his lecture, the door to the room suddenly swung open to reveal a grinning green haired boy with a clenched fisted hooded girl at his side. It did not take a rocket scientist to realize that the girl was far more than simply agitated and that the boy was obviously the cause. However, Chang could not care less about the emotional states of the two students at his door. The only thing he knew was that something else had once again disrupted his class period. _'They had better have a good excuse for being late,' _he thought angrily.

"And just who might you two be?" Professor Chang asked, trying not to let his voice show just how much hatred he now had for the two new teens. "And why exactly have you decided to make your grand entrance to my class now instead of before the bell like everyone else?"

"Uh…" Garfield cautiously began, immediately sensing the tension that had somehow risen between him and his new teacher, yet he was somehow still blissfully unaware of the tension growing exponentially between him and Raven. "Sorry, but I hit my head pretty hard in gym class earlier, and I guess I just woke up a few minutes ago. I would have been here on time if I had been conscious, but I wasn't so… it wasn't my fault and you can't punish me, right?" Garfield's voice had taken a more pleading form than when he began. His parents would kill him if he got in trouble on the very first day of school, and that was something he would rather not face.

"On the contrary," Chang grinned, thinking that he was finally going to unleash his frustration out on something. "I can indeed punish you for that clearly fabricated excuse. Unless you have another faculty member's confirmation that your story is in fact the truth, it seems to me that nothing more happened other than you and your female friend were cutting class together when whatever form of moronic inspiration forced you to show up here with a poorly thought out excuse."

Garfield ignored Chang's words and studied the note that the nurse had given him. "I don't know about faculty members, but the nice lady in the nurse's office gave me this note." The green haired teen took a few steps forward and dropped the note on Chang's desk, hoping that it would help clear up any misunderstandings between them. "Does that count?"

Professor Chang roughly snatched the note from his desk and hurriedly read through it, only to sigh in disappointment at the end. "Yes, this will do. Take the empty seat there in the back with Mr. Stone, and try not to damage yourself any further before my class. You cannot afford to miss anything in the physics curriculum."

Forgetting about Garfield for the time being, Chang turned to address the other figure still standing near the doorway, hoping that he could just end this quickly and get back to what he was paid to do. "Since Garfield Logan was the only male name unaccounted for in the roster and Mr. Logan back there is quite obviously male, that leaves you Ms.… Raven. Odd. There does not seem to be a last name for you on the roster." Chang made a note on the paper to check the front office later for the missing information. "That can wait, though. Just give me your note, Ms. Raven, and take your seat by Ms. Anders there."

Raven paled a little further under her hood. She had not known that a note was going to be required for her. It seemed like common sense to her that if a classmate is injured and could have the chance of it being serious, that it would be acceptable if someone stayed to make sure that they were indeed okay. However, this Professor Chang made it perfectly clear while talking to Garfield that he knew no such leniency. "I don't have a note," Raven admitted as she walked past the teacher and towards an anxious for companionship Kori. "I guess I'm just late."

"Do you mind telling me where you were and what you were doing that made you this late to class, Ms. Raven?" Professor Chang asked slightly interested to hear what the girl had to say in her own defense. However, his curiosity went unquenched.

"Does it really matter where I was?" Raven countered, not really caring what the punishment for one tardy could be. "I'm late and without a note. That's all you need to know."

Obviously, that response was not the one Chang was looking for, and the way Raven had said it made all of the previous anger and frustration he had experienced earlier swell back up within him. He had planned to let the hooded girl off with a simple warning, because the way Garfield and Raven had arrived together gave Chang the impression that she had stayed with her friend the entire time. He admired loyalty, but he loathed smart mouthed brats.

"Very well then," Chang spoke while holding in an evil grin. "Take your seat quickly and see me after class for your detention. And you would do well to remove your-"

"But that isn't fair," Garfield quickly interrupted as he stood up out of his chair in outrage, causing professor Chang to sigh in frustration. "You can't possibly give Raven a detention. She was the one who was with me at the nurse's office. She was probably there the whole time watching over me. You can't possibly blame her for that. What if I had like… amnesia or something and I needed someone I was familiar with to be there for me. I mean, if she was the one hurt, I would have been there for her in a heartbeat." That remark caused Victor to snicker and Raven to blush slightly from beneath her hood, but she quickly scoffed at Garfield's implications that she could not have taken care of herself if that were to have happened to her.

"Mr. Logan," Professor Chang sighed again, "if you are not careful and do not quickly learn to think before you speak, then you will soon find yourself in a very similar position that your friend has found herself in. If you value your after school free time, then I suggest that you sit back down and remain silent for the remainder of the class. This is not the way you want to start the year off with me, do you understand, Mr. Logan?"

Reluctantly, Garfield nodded in confirmation and silently sat back down in his chair, all the while glaring at his new teacher. All of his life, Garfield had been made fun of by others, but over time, things like that started to bother him less and less. However, the one thing he could not stand is when other people single out someone he knew and do something unnecessary to them for no reason. In his mind, Raven in no way deserved what Chang had given her, and he could not help himself from speaking his mind, consciously ignoring whatever the consequences could be. He did not care what other people did to him that much, but he would stand up and fight for his friends. He always had.

"Good." Professor Chang smiled at the authority he had over his new students. That was always the best part of the job for him. "Now, as I was saying, you would do well to remove that concealing hood of yours, Ms. Raven. I don't know if you have looked at the handbook recently, and I honestly don't care if you have or not, but the rules state that things like that which cover up one's face entirely are strictly prohibited. Unless you want to make your detention span for two days, remove it quickly."

"You've got to be kidding," Raven said in shock. She did not hate this teacher before, but she did now. Her hood was all that she had that concealed the unnatural color of her hair. The last thing she wanted was for the whole school to call her a freak like the previous school she was in. Raven did not know if she could take something like that again. In all honesty, however, she was more worried that Garfield might not be as accepting as he had seemed when he unknowingly called her an angel in his previous drowsy state. She only hoped that their already unstable friendship would not be shattered because of something as simple as the color of her hair.

"Oh, I never joke, Ms. Raven," Chang smirked at the frightened hooded girl before him. Her previous stolid front had faltered to reveal just how self-conscious Raven was on the inside. Chang was in control of her now, and he loved the feeling. "Take it off, and do it quickly."

Raven hesitated for a few seconds before bringing her hands up to the sides of her hood. She hated the fact that she did not have any choice in the matter. Her last school did not have any rules like this, at least none that she could remember. Taking one last deep breath and praying for other people's reactions to be minor so that this dreadful experience could just pass quickly and be over with, Raven swiftly pulled her hood back behind her head and let it fall freely to her shoulders.

And so, her natural purple hair was exposed to everyone around her once again. However, unlike the last time where most of the class snickered and laughed at her, the people in this class seemed to be at least a little more respectful. Some were still quite obviously trying to hold in their laughter, but most were successful in keeping their reactions down to a small smirk. Raven assumed that it was because most of these people were afraid of the teacher after she had been made an example of in front of the class. It did not really matter to her what their reasons were, though. She just merely did her best to ignore her classmates and concentrate on whatever it was Professor Chang was lecturing about now. However, not everyone's reaction to her revealed appearance was as spiteful as the majority's was.

Garfield was currently frozen in his seat with eyes that almost literally were bulging out of their sockets at the sight that he saw now. For the first time, Garfield had a clear line of sight to Raven's now exposed face. Well, the back and some of the side of it anyway. It did not really matter. What Garfield could see from his position in the room made every rational thought in his mind, however little there were to begin with in there, disappear entirely. The only thing that now thrived in his mind was the image of Raven's face. He was consumed by it, and he could not bring himself to look away at the moment if his life depended on it.

'_This shouldn't be possible,'_ Garfield thought in disbelief as his gaze continued to linger on the pale face of his female friend. _'There's no way that this could be right. She couldn't be the same… that was just a dream, wasn't it? My angel… is… Raven?'_ It was all too much for Garfield to take in at once. The beautiful angel who had been watching over him in his dream looked just like Raven, or Raven looked just like that angel. He did not know. _'Was it even a dream at all?'_ The green haired boy asked himself in confusion. Whether it was a dream or not, however, was of little importance in the end. Eventually, Garfield's mind returned to its original state of unrest, though its primary focus was still the pale girl near the front of the class.

'_I wonder what type of hair dye Rae uses,'_ Garfield thought to himself as the look on his face grew softer and more caring as he watched Raven from a distance. _'I've never seen that color of purple on someone before. I really like it. It's nice. I should tell her that sometime. Maybe she'd appreciate it, or maybe I should save it for the next time I get on her nerves. Yeah, that sounds like a good plan.' _Garfield stared intently for a few more minutes before another thought came to mind. _'Why has Rae been wearing that hood all day? It has to be like ninety-five degrees outside. This isn't hood weather. This isn't even close to winter yet. Why does she… is she hiding behind that hood, or does she just like to be all dark and mysterious? It's cool if she just likes doing that, but if she's hiding herself behind it, then there's a problem. She's too pretty to hide behind that hood all day.'_

Suddenly, a Professor Chang loudly cleared his throat at the front of the class after having noticed Garfield's absent minded behavior. Unfortunately, such a small act did little to get the attention of the green haired boy. "Mr. Logan!" Chang yelled angrily, causing Garfield to snap back to reality.

"Yes, Raven?" Garfield answered without thinking not letting his gaze leave Raven, but he quickly realized his mistake and slammed his hand to his forehead in regret, trying to ignore the poorly covered up snickering coming from Victor. Over at her table, Raven sighed and rolled her eyes at the moronic exploits of Garfield. "I mean, sir," Gar corrected now looking at Chang apologetically. "Yes sir?"

Chang sighed and shook his head at the young teen. "Mr. Logan, you seem to have a knack for trying my patience. I expect you to pay attention to the material, and here you are, spending my class period staring longingly at your strange, purple haired girlfriend. Save it for after cla-"

"First of all," Garfield interrupted angrily, forgetting any and all common sense he previously possessed, "Raven isn't my girlfriend, and I do not appreciate people jumping to conclusions about us."

Something deep inside Raven's heart sank at just how fast Garfield rejected the notion of being her boyfriend, not that she cared about something like that and especially not with Garfield. However, the hooded girl's eyes widened in surprise because of what the green haired teen said next.

"I mean," Gar continued, clearly not thinking at all at this point, "Raven is very pretty and I was shocked about just how pretty she was when she took off her hood, but I don't think of her like that." Victor managed to cough a 'yet' in at this point in Garfield's speech, causing him to receive a glare from the now very agitated teen. "Secondly," Garfield continued, now fuming with rage, "what right does anyone here have to pass judgment on Raven? I mean, I don't see anything about her that even comes close to being weird. Her personality scares me at times and the way her hood covered her face in its shadow was a little creepy at first, but in my opinion, Raven is perfectly normal, even more so than anyone else here. In fact, it's you who is strange for not being as accepting as everyone in the world should, and I think that you owe Raven an apology."

Throughout Garfield's entire monologue, Professor Chang began to hate the green haired boy more and more. Ever since he walked in the door, he had been nothing but a growing headache to the professor, and no matter what Chang said to try and deter the boy from disrupting him, his antics had escalated. He hated Garfield now, and he was never one to forgive and forget. By the time he finished, it was at the point that both Chang and Gar were glaring daggers at each other, and neither of them looked like they were going to let up soon.

_llllllllllllllllllll_

Over the chaotic noises of the busy hallway between class periods, one bolstering rhythm could be heard above anything else around it. In his own pit of despair and self loathing, Garfield stood facing his locker in one of the school's hallways, repeatedly bashing his head into its metal door. This is where he had gone after the torture that was the remainder of his physics class had ended, and this is where he remained for the most part of the break between classes. Though his actions were starting to hurt, he made no move to stop himself. In his mind, it was the least he deserved.

"As much as it is entertaining to see you try and open your locker using nothing but your own skull," the familiar voice of Victor pointed out, chuckling slightly, "it's not going to change what happened back there, man. It's like losing a game. After that fact, there's nothing left to do but study why you lost and never do it again. It works great in football."

"Unfortunately, Vic," Garfield sighed as he turned around and leaned against the lockers, making sure to bang the back of his head against it a few times for good measure, "this isn't football. This is my life." The once care free teen closed his eyes and rested his head on his locker. "I can't believe he gave me detention for the rest of the week. How am I going to explain this to my parents?"

"You could always, oh…. I don't know, **not **tell them," the athletic teen said while pulling some things for his next class out of his locker. "You are in High School now, man. You don't have to report back to anyone every single day anymore. You are," Victor looked at Garfield and then corrected himself, "… need to be somewhat responsible and be able to take care of yourself. Just tell your parents that you met up with some friends after school. It won't be entirely false. I mean, Raven will be there for at least the first day, and by your logic, you and Raven are only," he air quoted the next word, "_friends_."

Garfield growled in anger at his friend. "What is it with you and teasing people, Vic? First, you aren't letting go of the fact that Raven and I are just friends, and you were making fun of Richard about Kori while Professor Chang's back was turned during physics, though I have to agree with you about them. Richard and Kori obviously dig each other. I can't believe you, dude. You better hope that I never see you in my position here, because I'm sure Richard would agree with me when I say revenge is sweet and I'm going to love every minute of it."

Victor chuckled to himself. "Whatever, man. If and when that day comes, I'm not gunna be dumb enough to deny how I will feel, like you are. You aren't going to catch me in your position, because I'm a man of action. By the time you and Richard realize that I like someone, she'll already be mine, unlike you, Richard, Kori, and even Raven, who might not ever get the courage to stop denying your feelings."

"You should really stop talking about me and Raven," Garfield smirked as he looked at his oblivious friend. "I'll say it again, we're only friends. I'm on thin ice with Raven, anyway. She doesn't like me more than a friend, so just stop talking."

Victor sighed. "I'll let that idiotic statement slide because you were unconscious when I got my proof. By some miracle of God, Raven totally likes you, dude. You should hurry up and-"

"No," Garfield quickly interrupted. "I mean, you should really stop talking about things that you know nothing about right now, and you really shouldn't speak for Raven. I'm sure she wouldn't like that," the green haired teen looked past Victor towards the very angry purple haired girl standing behind him, "would you, Raven?"

Victor froze in fear at what Gar had said. If there was one thing he knew about Raven, it was that she was a force to be reckoned with, and he did not want any part of her wrath at all. Without even looking behind him, Victor did the only thing that came to mind in this situation. He ran, and he ran fast.

"I could really get used to that," Raven smirked as she walked past Garfield to her locker. "There's just something about other people running in fear of me that gives life meaning. Why was he saying those things anyway? If he actually believes that, then I may just have to actually follow through on some of my threats."

"Nah," Garfield chuckled. "He's just being an idiot. He can't understand what would make a guy be a girl's friend or vise versa without any romance at all. Though, I would like to see Vic get what's coming to him. He's been teasing me about you ever since I met him. It's getting annoying."

"I can imagine," Raven spoke dryly while swapping out her things from her locker. _'Note to self,'_ she thought evilly, _'maim Victor.'_ With that, she walked away, or at least attempted to do so. It did not take her long to figure out that Garfield was once again walking right beside her. "You have the same class as me again, don't you," Raven sighed.

Gar chuckled to himself before pulling out his schedule. "Let's see. From now to the end of school, I've got Math, lunch/study hall, Art, and English. How about you?"

"Unfortunately," Raven groaned "I have the exact same thing, and I'm willing to bet Victor has the same classes as well."

Garfield raised a curious eyebrow. "Why do you say that, Rae?"

"Well, for one," Raven began, "we all seemed to register here at relatively the same time, so I'd guess that we were all put in the only classes that had any available seats. Thus, I get the displeasure of having a loyal, green puppy follow me aimlessly around barking at anyone looking at me the wrong way." She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I _really_ got lucky with this school. I don't appreciate you fighting my battles for me, Garfield. I am perfectly capable of doing that myself, but I only fight battles that are important. Some moronic teacher giving me a detention and calling me strange isn't worth making a scene over, and I expect you not to do me another 'favor' ever gain."

"Um…" Garfield spoke nervously, trying to avoid eye contact with the purple haired beauty beside him. "About that… I just went kind of overboard with that whole speech back there. Sorry. I probably embarrassed the both of us a lot."

"You've got that right," Raven scoffed.

"I just don't like to see the people I care about being singled out," Gar admitted honestly.

"Garfield," the pale teen sighed, "you've known me for a total of a little over three hours, and part of that you were unconscious for. How can you honestly stand there and say you care about me. You barely even know me."

"That's just the thing, Rae," Garfield stopped walking and put a hand on Raven's shoulder, stopping her along with him. "I don't feel like you're a complete stranger to me. It's like you remind me of someone I once knew really well, but I don't remember knowing anyone quite like you. I'd say that I know you like I've always known you, but just like you said, we just met. All I can say is that no matter how long I've known you, I still consider you my friend, and a close one at that. I care deeply about my friends, Raven."

For some reason, Raven felt as if it were only her and Garfield alone in the large hallway, and she couldn't help but wish that she had put her hood back up after class. She felt oddly exposed without it, like it was her only guard against the people around her, and it was currently down. Garfield's words had managed to break through what few outer emotional walls remained and evade everything else to make their way straight to her heart. She was actually touched by what he said about her, and his description of her back in class floated back to her mind, but one thing stuck out above the rest. No matter what it was that he said to her, Raven could always tell that he was being sincere.

'_He called me pretty,'_ Raven thought to herself, genuinely touched. _'No one has ever called me pretty before, and he wasn't freaked out about my hair. And he called me-'_

Garfield was beginning to think things were all smoothed over between him and Raven. She had not said anything in a while, but the look on her face was calm, almost happy even. Gar was about to suggest that they get to class, but out of nowhere, Raven's eyes narrowed into a glare. Instinctively, Garfield cringed and took a few steps back in preparation for whatever Raven might do to him.

"You," Raven said in pure rage as she slowly and menacingly took a step towards the green haired boy in front of her, "called me Rae… twice!" The purple haired girl watched as Garfield's eyes widened in realization, and he quickly followed his athletic friend's lead by turning and fleeing the angry girl behind him as fast as his legs would carry him. Oh yes. She would have fun with this. Without hesitation, Raven shot forward in pursuit of her prey with a rare smile spread across her face.


	9. Getting Along

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Teen Titans, unfortunately. Any views or opinions expressed in this fan fiction are strictly those of the author, me. The latter statement is probably just a formality, unless I somehow work my love of all things Canadian **(GO CANADA)** into this fan fiction.

* * *

**Chapter 8: Getting Along**

Unlike most actual high schools, the hallways scattered throughout the virtual school the Titans were unknowingly contained within were eerily quiet as the pre-programmed students made their way from their previous class to next one. Only a few small groups of people were grouped together in each hallway chatting about subjects that no one really cared about just to keep up the illusion of the program being real. Yet, even those people seemed to be always quieter than normal people should be, though none of the Titans had cared enough to notice the oddities going on around them yet. In fact, that was the beauty of Mod's and Chang's illusion. Each of the Titans were all so preoccupied with something, or someone else in the extreme case of Kori and Richard, to see what was right under their noses, and the best part was that Mod had not even planned or predicted their current distractions; they just happened.

However, there was one of the Titans that had not yet been completely distracted from those around him. Sure, he was distracted now. Running for one's life tends to take a person's mind off everyone and everything else around you. But on the grand scale, Victor Stone was probably the most observant one of the captured Titans right now. His eyes were not locked on merely one other person like two other teenaged boys he knew, and thus, he was able to look at everything around him and see things that were going on that no one else could. After all, in his mind, he had already figured out something about each of his two new friends on the first day that it would probably still take them weeks if not months to figure out for themselves, even with his constant teasing. He was doing them a favor, really. They both were probably the type of people who just needed a little push in the right direction. What was wrong with giving them that push and probably the eventual shove? He was a hero, or at least he liked to think of himself as one from time to time, but where had that gotten him now? Running away from the girl that his grass stain of a friend had befriended with every ounce of strength he had in his body.

"Get out of the way!" Victor yelled down the crowded hallway as he shoved a few people in front of him to the side. He could not afford to waste any time, and swerving around each and every other student would take far too long. As far as he was concerned, Raven was chasing him, and he could not afford to die while he was still in school. That would just suck, but he could not think about that now. Thinking only slowed him down. The only thing he needed to know right now is where exactly the sanctuary known as Algebra II was located. If he could make it that far, Raven would have no choice but to leave him alone, and he would be safe, at least until the class was over.

As soon as Victor clumsily shot around a corner down into the final hallway leading to his class, something caught his eye. It was something that no other man could possibly have any hope of resisting. It was every teenaged boy's weakness, and some speculated that it only existed to torment those who willingly accepted the impossible dream it offered, but Victor was different. Nothing was impossible in his eyes, and every challenge was worth the risk. And so, forgetting all about his previous mistake and the immanent danger he thought himself to have been in, the athletic teen quickly and noisily skidded to a halt in front of the monstrous group of beasts standing before him.

"Hello ladies," Victor smoothly greeted the group of high School cheerleaders huddled together in front of their lockers, interrupting their previous mindless conversations with each other. Each of the now slightly agitated women turned to look at the rude person now towering over them. Every one of them glared at Victor with disgust, causing the tall teen to cringe inwardly. _'This is going to be harder than I thought,'_ Victor thought before gathering up the nerve to speak again. "My name is Victor. Victor Stone, actually. I just moved here from a few towns over, and I just wanted to let you know that you'll probably be seeing a lot of me soon enough, so keep an eye out."

The girl in front, who seemed to be the ring leader of the blood thirsty group of girls, raised an eyebrow in curiosity. "Is that so?" The girl asked smugly. "And just why would an unpopular no-name such as you ever gain our interest? What could you possibly do that would catch our eyes, hmm? You may be quite muscular and in shape, but that still does not make you worthy enough to even look at us, and I just don't know how you can have the nerve to now."

"Well," Victor continued on, determined to leave his mark, "I'll admit that for now, I am unpopular. I just move here, and even y'all would start out at the bottom if you moved to a new school at our age. But, have a name. I just told it to you. It's Victor Stone, but I'll let it slide since I just introduced myself. However, I do expect you all to know my name soon enough. After all, you're looking at the soon to be named captain of every sport this school has to offer, so learn it now so you can tell everyone else that you knew me before the spotlight finds me."

"You know," one of the minor cheerleaders spoke out, "you're pretty full of yourself." If Raven were watching this, she would have laughed at the irony, or at least smirked at it. "You haven't even done anything yet. Right now, you're all talk."

"She's got a point," the ringleader said in a holier-than-thou attitude. "Come see if we care when you are everything you say, but I doubt we will even then, though you are welcome to try."

That wasn't exactly the response he was looking for, but it was better than flat out rejection. At least, he thought it was. It was hard to get a good read on these cheerleaders, or maybe it was just that he did not want to believe what his mind was telling him about them. Victor was about to say something else to the group of girls when a familiar yell echoed through the hallway, followed by a heavy thud. Immediately, Victor recognized the voice, but there was something wrong about it, and the thud afterward definitely worried him.

Quickly turning around and jogging towards a group of people gathering, Victor looked down to see Garfield trying desperately to get to his feet as fast as the little green haired boy could get his body to move. What Victor thought he had heard in Gar's voice, he could see clearly in his eyes. He was scared, but not the regular kind of scared that everyone likes to get now and then. Garfield was terrified, and he could only guess why, though he had a little more than an inkling as to who this was all about.

Garfield mentally chastised himself for being stupid enough to trip on his untied shoelace. He clearly remembered tying it earlier that morning, but it must have naturally come undone sometime during the day. Things like that could get him killed or at the very least maimed, especially when Raven was hot on his tail, or at least he assumed. He had not taken the chance of looking back at Raven after he took off running. A part of him feared that she had some sort of hidden medusa powers, but maybe he was just being silly. But still, one can never be too careful. However, at the moment, Garfield was doing his best to scramble back to his feet.

"Garfield, are you okay?" Victor asked as he reached out and pulled Gar up the rest of the way to his feet. "Why exactly are you running around like a-"

Without thinking, Gar shoved Victor off of him and pushed his way through the crowed that had gathered, but he quickly spun around and ran back to his friend. "Run!" With that, the green haired teen tried to pull Victor in the direction he had tried to run off too. Unfortunately for him, Garfield could be most accurately described as a lightweight, and Victor… well, Victor was far from a lightweight. It was like a cat trying to move a hippo. He did not get very far before Victor picked him up and set him back down in front of him.

"Alright, man," Victor spoke in a demanding tone. "What did you do?"

"N-Nothing," Gar nervously shifted his eyes towards the corner where he knew Raven would come from. "Trust me. We need to run, now! If we stay here, Raven's gunna kill us both."

As if on cue, Raven turned slowly around the corner and stopped in front of the gathered crowd. She had chased Garfield far enough to put the fear of God in him, and then stopped. As long as he was scared enough to have learned his lesson, there was no reason for her to waste energy chasing him. Yet, here Garfield was, not running and definitely not scared out of his wit. In fact, he was talking to the other person who should still be running from her. This did not sit well with her.

A part of Raven wanted to just let this go. She had made her point before, so who cared if they had gotten over the initial fear? Yet, she knew that in overlooking what the two boys were currently doing, she would only be undermining the façade she had worked so hard to build up. That would not be in her best interest right now, at least she thought it would not be. She was not quite ready to do anything that might possibly lead to letting down her guard. Thus, she really only had one option.

Victor gazed at the purple haired girl walking menacingly slow towards them in horror, and what made it all worse was that she was smiling her own little evil smile. _'She's probably thinking about what she's gunna do to us,'_ Victor thought to himself in panic. _'I've got to get out of here.'_ Looking around, Victor desperately searched for something to distract Raven. He knew exactly where he needed to go, but Raven was far too close by now for him to make a successful mad dash down the hallway towards his next class. He needed something to get and keep her attention for just a few seconds, and he grinned to himself when a sinister idea popped into his mind.

Garfield did not see it coming. He was too frozen in fear to even have a clue as to what Victor had planned, but by the time he realized what was happening, it was too late. As soon as Raven was close enough and her scowl big enough, Gar felt himself being forcibly shoved into the pale teen in front of him. Unfortunately for the two, Victor misjudged at exactly what force to shove his friend to delay Raven's advance. The athletic teen ended up sending both of them tumbling to the ground before either of them could make sense of what had just transpired.

For the second time in the day, Raven found herself lying on her back with Garfield on top of her. It was like the fates were trying to tell her something, and she did not particularly like what they were trying to tell her. She was about to yell at Gar to get off of her, but was surprised when he seemed to beat her to the punch. Garfield quickly jumped to his feet with a look of pure anger on his face.

"Victor!" The green haired teen yelled at the shrinking figure down the hallway. "I'll get you for this, and when I do, you're going to wish that it was Raven who found you first. You are so dead!" Gar could not believe how easily Victor could just throw him to the wolves like he did. What kind of friend would do something like that just to save his own skin? It was appalling, but Garfield had to admit that he probably would have done the same thing if he had thought of it first. Yeah, he was mad at Victor, but he was mostly mad that Vic got away while he still had to face Raven.

It was then that he realized exactly what position he and Raven had been in a few moments ago, as well as the fact that the purple haired girl might be even more furious with him thanks to Victor's actions. Gar blushed slightly at the thought of being on top of a girl like that, let alone Raven, but he forced the blush back down. He was not about to let Raven see him blushing because of her. She might get the wrong idea, and after all, they were just friends, right?

Ignoring the quickly dispersing crowd around him, whom apparently had lost interest in everything that was happening there, Garfield swiftly spun around to find Raven still a little dazed by what happened but in the process of sitting up. Being the gentleman that Gar was, or so he enjoyed acting like from time to time, the green haired boy kindly offered his hand to help Raven up to her feet. She accepted it, albeit reluctantly at first, and soon the duo found themselves face to face with each other once again, although Raven was far from a friendly mood.

"I am so going to kill Victor for this," Raven grumbled to herself as she tried her best to avoid looking into Garfield's eyes. Usually, his eyes were far too jovial for her taste. It was like no matter what mood Gar was in, his eyes were always shining with happiness, which was something Raven could not figure out, not that she had made much of an attempt to do so. However, this time, it was not because Garfield's inward happiness that kept her eyes from his, but it was because she was too embarrassed after finding herself in the position they were in to bring herself to look him in the eye, and that made her even more angry.

"You and me both, Rae…ven!" Gar quickly caught himself, and hoped that Raven had not heard his near slip. Yet, with the possibility that the pale girl would be reminded that he was in fact standing beside her and might resume her chase of him, it might have not been the best idea to speak up at all. As cruel and unethical as it sounded, Garfield probably would have been better off following Victor's example and ran for his life as soon as he got back to his feet. However, it was not in his nature to just leave someone who had fallen on the floor, even if he was partially to blame for what had happened. "Umm," Gar hesitantly began, "sorry about bumping into you like that. I was-"

"Considering the way you yelled at Victor," Raven interrupted as she swiftly walked past Garfield, getting back on the path to her next class, "and his recent cowardly escapes, I'm willing to bet that it wasn't your first choice to get shoved into me. You don't have to apologize, but if you see Victor before I do, I'd suggest that you urge him to apologize so I might consider letting him live after I get through with him."

Garfield took a step away from Raven before continuing down the hall with her. Sometimes, Raven freaked him out, but he understood that that was just who she was at times. He accepted that, but it still freaked him out every now and then. "Uh… yeah," Gar answered cautiously. "I'll try. Honestly, though, I kind of think Victor deserves whatever you give him after what he did. I don't make it a habit to wish harm on my friends, but Victor is really pushing my patience."

'_Keep the subject on Victor, and maybe Raven will forget that she was mad at me a few minutes ago,' _Garfield thought to himself hopefully. The last thing he wanted to do was run for his life again. He found it much more enjoyable walking with Raven instead of being chased by her. "Where is our next class, anyway?" The green haired boy asked while digging through his pockets in search of his schedule that had apparently disappeared in the last five minutes.

"It's at the end of this hall," Raven answered. "Room 823. I just hope there is a decent teacher in this next class. We really haven't had that much luck with our teachers so far."

"I know what you mean," Garfield's expression turned serious. "I hate that Chang guy."

"Not just him," Raven added. "The physical education teacher would not be my first choice for a teacher."

"I don't know," Gar smiled. "He seemed pretty cool to me."

Raven raised a skeptical eyebrow. "And you can say this in spite of the fact that you nearly got a concussion in that class, how?"

"Well, yeah. That part wasn't very fun," the green haired boy admitted with a shy grin. "But in my eyes, if that had not happened, we might not be friends now." Unable to control himself, Gar erupted in a fit of laughter. For some reason, he enjoyed teasing Raven about that, despite the risk of injury afterwards.

"Keep bringing that up," Raven said while rolling her eyes in annoyance, "and we may not be friends for very much longer, and don't think that just because you're not dead yet, it means that you're off the hook for calling me by that horrid nickname. Because of what Victor just did, I've decided that he's first, and I'll kill you second."

"Oh, come on, Raven," Garfield acted on impulse and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. "I'm not that bad. You know you love me."

"If by love, you really mean barely tolerate," the pale girl sent a glare to the side at her green haired companion, "then yes, Garfield. I love you."

Raven's last sentence echoed in the mind of Garfield. He understood exactly what she had meant by saying it, but that still did not help repress the feeling he got when he heard her say the L word that was both feared and welcomed at the same time. There was just something about hearing someone say that they loved him that left him speechless. Garfield offered no rebuttal to Raven's statement. He was not really able to respond at all. Raven noticed this, but welcomed the silence as the two walked the remainder of the way to their next class.

_llllllllllllllllllll_

"Good morning class," a slightly overweight man who wore his long, brown hair back in a ponytail greeted his new group of students as he walked into the room. This man, or more accurately a program designed to resemble a man, was the youngest teacher to be employed by the school. He had just received his teaching credentials, and had sought out a good school to begin his career. He was inexperienced, but he knew the material like the back of his hand, so he was confident he would have close to no trouble in enlightening his new charges. However, he had yet to meet his greatest challenge yet, Garfield Mark Logan, whose worst subject had always been math both in the real world and this fabricated one. If he only knew what he was in for in the long run, he would not have shown up at all.

"I trust everyone has heard about our new teachers," the man continued, oblivious to the frustrations that would accompany this class from now on. "Some of you may have even had them replace your old teachers. You'll have to bear with Mr. Mod and Mr. Ch- sorry. Professor Chang. The professor is a little uptight, and he hates not being addressed by his 'proper title.'" The man did little air quotes with his fingers, causing the majority of the class to erupt with laughter.

"Alright class," the man tried to quiet the students down, "that's enough. I know you're all probably thinking that it's kind of early in the year for some of your old teachers to retire, and it is. Some things just happen that are beyond our control, and we have to respect their reasons for leaving and accept the fact that we're all now stuck with a couple of new teachers in our midst. However, by the looks of things here, we are also graced with the presence of a few new students as well." He smiled in the direction of all five of the Titans.

Obviously, since they were allowed the option of sitting exactly where they wanted to sit with the single stipulation of that their selection would stick for the rest of the year, Kori sat with Richard, Raven sat at the first available seat she saw which was directly next to Kori, Gar had chosen to sit next to Raven for obvious reasons, and Victor… Victor was cowering as far away from Raven as he could. He was doing his best to hide it, but Raven could easily see the fear in his eyes, and that was enough for her. At least, it was for the moment. She tended to be the type that held a grudge.

"Now," the algebra teacher continued, "I won't make you get up in front of the class like morons and introduce yourselves like I'm sure some teachers have done to you so far in the day. In my opinion, that is socialization, and that belongs outside of my classroom, unless I'm the one socializing with all of you like I am now of course. You can introduce yourselves to each other after class. As for right now, you seemed to have enrolled at the worst time if you look at it through the eyes of a student. Due to the rather poor grades the past few weeks, I'm going to give a pop quiz on all the material you should know by now."

A loud, cumulative groan came from the less than happy students, but Garfield was too mortified to even groan. He hated math, mostly because he just did not understand it. Whenever he was taught, he did his best to listen and learn, but his mind seemed to always get side tracked by something miniscule. He could never concentrate enough to get anything right, and he usually had to make up his own ways to work out problems, which most of the time led him to getting the problems wrong.

"I know what you are all thinking," the teacher laughed slightly. "I'm never going to pass now. Well, don't worry. This quiz allows you to get help from your fellow classmates. Notice I said help, not answers. Anyone caught cheating will get a zero, and if you complain to me about getting that zero, I'll assign extra homework for the entire class for the rest of the week." Another round of groans came from the class, but the teacher ignored them.

"Now, let me clarify what I mean by help. If someone does not understand how to do one of the problems, I expect someone else who does to take the time to teach them. This quiz is designed to get everyone in the class on the same page, not just a select few. I expect everyone to get a perfect score on this, and know the material after today. This stuff will not go away, because this course is cumulative. Everything you learn will be used for something else. Get used to it. You may begin as soon as you get your papers." With that, the man passed out several packets of problems and questions before returning to his seat to watch over the class.

'_Perfect,'_ Garfield thought to himself in agony as he reluctantly took one of the packets that was in the pile being passed down the row of seats. _'This is just perfect. Everyone is in the one class I don't want anyone else to see me in, especially not Victor or Raven. I can already hear Victor's taunts and jokes about this.' _Hesitantly, Gar forced himself to take a quick glance at the first few problems on the front page of the quiz, and he sighed in relief when he saw just how simple everything on that page seemed to be. _'This isn't so bad.'_ He turned a page and his expression turned slightly less confident. _'What in the world is an imaginary number? If it is imaginary, doesn't it not exist, and if it doesn't exist, then WHY DO WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THEM? Calm down, Garfield. I-I can do this. I just have to concentrate and remember everything I've ever learned in my math classes.'_

_lllllflashbacklllll_

"Sweet! I just got the new hand held Gamestation! I'm never paying attention in class again!"

_lllllend flashbacklllll_

'_Curse you video games!' _Garfield mentally yelled to himself as he over dramatically stared at the ceiling and shook his fists at no one in particular. _'Cuuuuurrrrrrssssseeeeee yyyyooooouuuuuuu!'_

"Is there a problem, sir?" The teacher spoke up loudly from his desk, snapping Garfield back to reality.

"No," Gar responded quickly, trying to ignore the fact that everyone in the room was staring at him like he was an idiot, the very last thing he wanted everyone else to think about him. "Everything is fine. I was just… uhh… yeah. I'll just start working now. Sorry." The teacher did not respond, but instead just rolled his eyes at the green haired boy's antics and, like most of the rest of the class, tried his best to ignore him.

'_Okay,'_ Garfield thought to himself, trying desperately to get his mind back on track. _'Just concentrate, and everything will come out okay.' _With that, Gar threw all hindrance aside and began loudly scribbling his work for the first problem down vigorously.

Unfortunately, the actions of the green haired boy soon caught the eye of Raven, who was trying her best and failing to ignore the loud squeaking of Gar's eraser against his table every five seconds. As her annoyance with Garfield grew, she found it more and more impossible to keep her eyes away from him. Eventually, curiosity got the better of her and she took a quick glance at him and his paper. For a second, she was actually quite surprised at what she saw. Gar may have been noisy, but he was quick at answering these problems. He had already shown all the work for the first eight problems. For that quick moment, she admired him. That is until she looked a little closer at his work. _'Why does he have a negative square root of infinity for one of his answers?'_

Raven sighed just loud enough for Garfield and maybe a few others around her to hear. "You really don't know what you're doing, do you Garfield?" Raven asked with all previous admiration for the green haired boy eradicated from her mind.

Garfield froze in his seat and let his pencil fall from his hand. Slowly, he turned to face his pale friend, but Raven was surprised to see a look of complete and utter hopelessness in his eyes. It was as if he was pleading for her help. "No," Garfield admitted softly, quite embarrassed to let anyone know of just how bad he was at math. However, this was an emergency, and he could not afford to start the year off with a failing grade if the material was only going to get harder as the year went on. As much as he did not want to admit it, if he was going to pass, he needed help, and that meant that someone was going to find out just how stupid he thought himself to be at times. "I don't even know what the Roman numerals above five are. Why can't they just use regular numbers?"

Raven did not know exactly how to respond to that. To say the least, she was now confused. "We need to know Roman Numerals?"

"Yeah," Garfield sighed, now slightly more depressed than usual now that he thought that Raven did not even know how to do this problem. "This problem right here: y equals x squared plus nine. it says we're supposed to find some y intercept, but I don't know how to do that. The best I can figure is that we're supposed to find what y equals. I know x is a Roman numeral, but I don't know what number it stands for. I am so screwed."

Raven stared at Garfield blankly, not wanting to believe what she was hearing. "Please, tell me you're joking," she managed to force out. What Gar was telling her was unthinkable, or more accurately close to impossible. Someone who had apparently made their way through Algebra I and Geometry did not even know how to do this problem. Something was very wrong here. "Garfield," Raven began, trying to sound as nice about this as possible, "those aren't Roman numerals. That is the equation of a line, a parabola to be more specific."

"Umm…" Garfield stated hesitantly, though it was obvious as to where he was going with this. "What's a parobolia?"

Raven buried her face in her hands in frustration. "How in the world did you ever pass Algebra I and Geometry?"

"Oh, I used to be really good at math," Gar grinned proudly, but his grin quickly turned into a frown. "I remember doing things like this a couple of years ago, but… I've been kind of distracted for the past year or so. I've pretty much forgotten everything since then."

Raven quickly put two and two together, which was clearly something that Garfield could no longer do, and sighed. "Alright, I'll teach you how to do all of this again, but you have to promise me two things."

Garfield's eyes shone with happiness and hope. "Dude! Raven, you name it, and it is done. I'll do anything."

Raven grinned to herself. If only she could hold this kind of power over everyone's heads, her life would be complete. "First, you have to swear that you will never **ever** call me Rae in my presence. Honestly, I will be generous enough to not care if you call me by that name behind my back. Just as long as I do not hear about it, I will let it slide, but if I even get a hint that you've used that name in reference to me, I will not show any mercy on you. Do you accept?"

Garfield quickly thought it over and shook his head in compliance. In all actuality, he really liked calling her Rae. All he wanted to show by doing so was just how good of a friend he considered her to be, but if she did not see it that way, there was no point in continuing. Besides, Raven was a beautiful name as is.

"Good," Raven smiled at her small victory. She doubted that Garfield would refrain from using that name right off, but she guessed that it would only take a cracked rib or two to drive her point into his brain. After that, she envisioned smooth sailing in their preverbal sea of friendship. "Now, my second stipulation is more for you than it is for me. Though if we continue having these favor trade offs, I could in theory get you to do whatever I want, no matter how embarrassing."

Garfield's face paled slightly as he let his imagination run wild with the terrifying possibilities of what Raven could make him do.

"However," Raven continued, savoring the look of horror on Garfield's face, "I, for one, do not want to keep wasting time like this every time we learn something new in class. I would get tired of it. I'm already annoyed at the prospect of teaching you things that you should already know! But, if I have to do it, then you have to promise me that you will actually pay attention in class and that you will leave your little brainless gaming system at home where it belongs."

"B-But," Gar stuttered as his hand fell on the pocket his game was hidden in, "it's portable. It was meant to be taken out of the house and into places video games have never gone before. It doesn't belong at home."

Raven smirked evilly. "Tough. Those are my conditions. Do you accept, or would you rather fail?"

Hearing the entire conversation, the teacher had a slight urge to tell Garfield that he could get help from someone else if he wanted to, but he thought better of it. He did not get the sense that Garfield's purple haired companion was doing any of this out of spite, but rather because she honestly wanted to help her green haired friend. For that reason, he decided to let their conversation continue down the path it was going on.

Garfield sighed in defeat. It did not look like he had any other choice but to accept Raven's help this time. After all, anyone else would probably make fun of him and never let go of the fact that he did not know how to do these things. It seemed to him like Raven thought they were pretty simple, and that made his position even worse. Reluctantly, Gar nodded his head for a second time in acceptance of Raven's terms. He only hoped that he could get through the year without his games as Raven seemed to think he could, or at least, he hoped she thought he could. It would be a cruel world if Raven was doing this for the sole reason of watching him squirm in boredom.

"Good," the pale girl replied to Garfield's nod. "Let's start from the beginning."

The rest of their Algebra class had gone off as well as anyone could hope for. Garfield had managed to learn a lot from Raven, and he caught on pretty quickly, though he was prone to overlook a lot of minor things when moving the numbers around. However, he felt good about what he had managed to get done, though he did not even come close to finishing the packet. He still felt like he had taken one giant step towards understanding what all those strange symbols everyone was talking about actually meant. He also learned that the Roman Numeral X stood for ten, but he was disappointed that raven was right in the fact that they never once got to use it.

Garfield was the only one of their loosely tied group that did not finish the packet. Raven managed to do a few pages every time Gar was attempting a problem for himself, though she usually had to point out a few mistakes that he had made afterward. Teaching was actually less frustrating than she had imagined it would be. She actually enjoyed spending that time with her usually care free and jovial friend, and though she'd rather die than admit it, she loved to see that rare glimmer in Garfield's eyes when he finally put everything she taught him to good use and got an answer right. She did not know why, but she felt more than a sense of accomplishment whenever she saw that from him. She was actually proud of him.

As expected, Victor and Richard took a little more time to finish than most people, mainly for Richard because he kept getting side tracked while talking to Kori. Victor on the other hand knew how to do the work; he was just slow at it. But, what surprised the entire class was that Kori had finished five minutes after getting the assignment. She showed no work, and got every answer right. Even the teacher could not understand how it was possible, and would not have believed it if he had not seen it. Kori spent the rest of the class trying to beat out the packet in vying for Richard's attention. She won.

Yet, all good things must come to an end, as the loosely tied group found out. Before any of them knew it, the bell rang signifying the end of the first hour of school that all of them actually enjoyed being in. However, they could rest assured that it would not be the last. The next was one part of school that everyone enjoyed.

_llllllllllllllllllll_

With their previous class over, Garfield and Victor now carried their newly bought lunches back to the table Kori had picked out for all of them. The tall red headed girl had become quite good in persuading their group to do what she wanted in the short time that they had known her. Mostly, all she had to do was persuade Richard, and he would do the rest. However, it did not take too much convincing for Garfield and Victor to accept their new seating arrangements. After all, it was not like they knew a whole lot of other people in this school. The closest thing to an acquaintance they had was the group of cheerleaders Victor had tried to hit on, but he apparently decided that his efforts were a total failure since they had all been the furthest thing on his mind since that encounter. Thus, Victor and Gar eagerly accepted sticking with their makeshift group that they had formed in gym class. However, there was one person who seemed to do her best to avoid joining such a group.

Raven, having heard Kori's pleas but decided to ignore them, was sitting in the back of the lunchroom at an otherwise empty table by herself. It was not that she did not like the people in the group Garfield was in. She just did not trust them yet. The first time that she had seen Kori and Richard up close was when they defected from the team that had injured Garfield to her team. Although the action itself was favorable for her, the fact remained that they were on that team to begin with. As far as she knew, they could have been the ones that threw one of the balls that resulted in Gar being knocked out. However, that was only one of the reasons that she chose not to sit with the group of people she hardly knew, Garfield being the only exception, though she admittedly knew little about him. And so, she sat alone to protect herself. They could not hurt her if they did not know her.

"Hey, Victor," Garfield said while grinning slyly to himself as the duo neared their new lunch table, "mind if I ask you a question?"

"If it is about Raven and your infatuation with her," Victor chuckled, "you're on your own there."

The green haired boy growled angrily at his friend. "What did I tell you about saying things like that?"

"Doesn't matter what you said," Victor grinned in triumph. "I'm positive that I could whip your sorry butt any day of the week if you tried to stop me. Raven on the other hand seems a lot stronger than she looks, and she scares me. But, Raven isn't here right now, so I'm good."

"Whatever," Gar grumbled to himself. "I was going to ask you where you lived. Maybe I could come over, and we could play some games or something. You could come over to my house anytime you want. I've got more games than I can count stuffed into my closet over the years."

"Sure, man," the athletic teen replied. If there was one thing that he enjoyed just as much as sports, it was video games. Although, Victor did have a secret hobby that he loved to work on more than anything in the world, and he hoped that Garfield might take an interest in it as well. It never hurts to have an extra set of hands. "I actually live right across the street from that new video game store that opened up a week or so ago. You know where it is, right?"

"Do I know where it is?" Garfield said in shock. "I've only been there every day since it opened. I've practically got their entire selection memorized, along with everything I'm going to buy from there from now until I die. I can't believe I've passed your house that many times and haven't seen you until today. That's freaky."

"It's not really all that weird, Gar," Victor said, wondering why Kori had picked one of the tables that was the furthest away from the lunch line. "I haven't had much time to actually go into that store yet. My dad worked me pretty hard during the week or so before today. He really wanted me to beat out everyone else at everything. I've barely had time to sit down or even rest, unless it's midnight and I'm about to go to sleep"

"Dude, that sucks," Garfield spoke sympathetically, almost feeling bad for what he was about to do. "As much as I love video games, Victor, I've got to tell you, I like blackmail more." Garfield smiled evilly, which caused Victor's grin to quickly turn into a frown. Although he hoped It was not the case, he had a good idea of where he was going with this. "You really should blame yourself for this, dude. You're the one who left me for dead on top of Raven."

Victor stopped dead in his tracks. "I was just trying to give you the perfect opportunity to make your move."

"You were trying to sacrifice me to save your own skin!" Garfield had to concentrate to keep from yelling. "You're lucky I had enough control to decide against assaulting you as soon as I walked into Algebra class, and you're especially lucky that Raven has let you live this long. Anyway, like I was saying, I rather enjoy blackmailing people from time to time. Who doesn't?"

Victor opened his mouth to interrupt, but then thought better of it. In all actuality, he enjoyed the occasional bit of blackmail to get what he wanted, too. He found it rather effective, and he wished he had found something to hold over Gar's head to force him to act on the feelings Victor knew that Gar had for Raven, even if he wouldn't admit it.

"So," Garfield continued grinning, "as I see it, the information of exactly where you live would be really useful to certain people who tend to hold grudges against stupid people and the stupid things they say." He glanced at the lonely looking Raven sitting by herself in the opposite corner of the room. "Yep. Very useful indeed."

Victor paled in fear. He'd expected something maniacal, but this was downright cruel. "You wouldn't." The athletic teen stuttered quietly, hoping that his friend was just joking around with him.

"Oh, I would," the green haired teen laughed to himself victoriously. "I'm the type of person who doesn't get mad about the things other people do to me. I'm the type of person who gets even and then some."

"Alright, Gar," Victor sighed in defeat. "What do you want? I'll do anything if it means not waking up to Raven standing over me with a knife. She already creeps me out as is."

Gar mentally snickered at how easily Victor agreed to anything when it came to Raven not getting an edge over him. "Well, the good news is that I only want two things from you."

"That sounds reasonable, as long as you promise not to ever tell your girlfriend where I live." For the first time, Victor regretted pushing his luck like he just did. Obviously, because of the position he was in, it was not the wisest choice he could make. Fortunately for him, his green haired companion seemed to let it slide just this once.

"Funny," Garfield said dryly. "I bet you'll find it hysterical when I tell you that the bad news is that both of my demands involve Raven." The green haired boy smirked widely at Victor's now paler complexion. "First, I want you to go over there and apologize to her for all the things you've said about both her individually and me and her as a couple, and no matter what she does to you, you have to take it because you pretty much deserve whatever she can dish out. Secondly, you're going to have to do everything you can to convince her to come sit with us during lunch."

"Shouldn't that one be your job?" Victor spoke trying to get out of any extra contact with a person that could kill him if she felt like it. "I mean, you do carry more weight with her, you know. She'd listen to you before she even looks at me."

"That's not the point," Gar sighed. "I want us all to be friends, and that includes Raven, too. Friendship comes with effort, and I'd really appreciate it if you'd lead Kori and Richard by example and at least make an attempt at being nice and accepting her for who she is. Just do this for me, okay? I don't want to be put in a position down the line where I have to choose between you guys and her."

"Fine," the athletic teen agreed. "I wouldn't want to put you in that position, because we all know who you would pick, Romeo. I'll go over there and talk to your _not_ girlfriend, but if I end up dead because of it, I am so haunting you for the rest of your life. And don't think that just because you don't believe in ghosts that they're not there. I'll find a way back, and I will make sure that you will never hear the end of it."

"Victor," Garfield spoke seriously as he placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, "the possibility of your death is a risk that I am more than willing to take." The green haired boy used every ounce of strength in his body to push his dark skinned friend forward a few inches towards his next destination. "Now go, and bring Raven back with you."

With that, Garfield took Victor's lunch with his free hand and walked over to their table which was already occupied by Richard and Kori. Briefly, he toyed with the idea of throwing away the pounds of meat Victor had piled up on his tray and replacing them with some of his vegetables his tray was filled with, but he decided against it. Something about that feeling seemed familiar, but more importantly, he did not see a way for Victor not to suspect him. He did not want Raven's first time really sitting with their group to be one filled with arguing and a lot of yelling.

_llllllllllllllllllll_

For the first time since her concentration was broken by Garfield while walking to school that morning, Raven was able to finally get some quality time with her book. She did not consider that brief period in her physical education class quality reading, since the hectic time with Garfield and the killer balls that followed ruined her chance to read at all, but this time was different. She was alone, and there was no one there to distract her from the world contained within her book. She did not bother buying lunch today, or planned to waste her money on the filth they were serving here. She'd rather skip lunch and get some good reading done as opposed to slowly poisoning herself. Yes, lunch was going to be the one part of the day that was as close to perfect as possible.

"Umm," a voice spoke up rather timidly, breaking Raven's concentration on her book yet again today. "Hey, Raven."

Thinking that it was Garfield because she was far too engrossed in her book previously to make out exactly whose voice it was, and since she believed that no one else would dare interrupt her like that, Raven was at first not as angry as she would have been if it were anyone else, but she still gave a loud sigh in frustration as she marked her page in her book before closing it. However, to her surprise and utter fury, when she looked up to acknowledge her green haired companion, he was not there. Where she had thought he was stood Victor in his place, the last person she wanted to see right now. With a glare in the direction of the shaven headed teen, Raven angrily dropped her book on the table with a loud thud and crossed her arms as she stared at Victor.

"What?" The pale teen asked coldly, not bothering to sound even the least bit pleasant.

Victor cringed at the sound of Raven's voice. He was convinced that he was not going to get through this without some sort of physical wound if not the loss of his life entirely. Briefly, he debated with himself whether he should sit down or not, but doing so would make it harder for him to run if things turned ugly. However, Raven seemed to pick up on his fear and made his decision for him.

"You might as well sit down," the purple haired girl said as she made a motion with her hand towards a seat at the opposite side of the table. She heard Victor sigh in relief. She had to put an end to that. "It's not like I can't catch you eventually if you run. You _are_ in all of my classes, so you wouldn't be able to get away for too long."

That just ruined any comfort Victor had found in Raven's words previously. He knew she was right, and by the way she had just accepted that detention from Professor Chang, it did not look like Raven was the type of person that worried much about getting punished while in school. Hesitantly, Victor pulled out the chair Raven had motioned to, checked it for any traps, bombs, or whatever he thought she was capable of, and then carefully sat down. In his mind, he could never be too careful when it came to Raven. She was a lit fuse.

"I," Victor began nervously, "um… I just wanted to apologize for what I said about you earlier."

Raven raised an eyebrow, suddenly taking a slight interest in where this conversation was headed. "Which thing you said, falsely accusing me of having feelings for Garfield, laughing at me after Garfield unknowingly called me an angel, or saying my name was stupid. Take your pick, because you've got a lot to atone for."

"Yeah," the athletic teen felt a bead of sweat roll down his brow. "Look, I'm the type of person who likes teasing my friends about things. Mainly, I've been teasing Garfield about you, and you just seem to show up at the worst possible times."

"How so?" Raven asked emotionlessly. "Considering the lies you were trying to fill Garfield's head with this most recent time, I'm glad I showed up when I did. The last thing I want is for Garfield to actually believe what you're telling him. It is entirely false, and I do not appreciate you jumping to conclusions about how I feel. I am just his friend, nothing more."

Victor looked stunned. "You know, before you said that, I just assumed that Gar was putting words in your mouth when he was saying that you two were just friends. I never thought it was possible that you actually agreed to be his friend after that whole display of 'I'm not his anything' you put on earlier. You actually agreed to be his friend?"

"It's not like Garfield was ever going to give up his attempts until I was his friend, anyway," Raven admitted as she rolled her eyes. "I have a feeling that he's a persistent one, and that I am far better off now being his friend than still having him buzz around me like a bee annoyingly. Besides, it isn't like I could in good conscience turn him down after he nearly got a concussion in physical education. The way I see it, if he is willing to take that much physical damage for me, then he is worth at least an attempt to befriend him."

"That's true," Victor responded. "After something like that, I don't think anybody could force themselves to willingly crush his spirit by rejecting him. But, I get the feeling when I look at Gar that he would do anything including sacrificing his life if it meant saving someone else. That's just the type of person I see him as." Seeing how their conversation was going so well, Victor grinned sinisterly as an evil idea popped into his mind. "He really and truly is a kind person, ya know?"

Raven looked over at Garfield, who was talking and laughing with Richard and Kori as he ate his plate of fruits and vegetables. "Yeah," she answered without thinking.

"And he really cares about his friends," Victor continued while his grin grew to the full length of his face.

"Yeah," Raven answered again. "I've noticed."

"He'd do anything for them, really."

"Yeah."

"You've got to admit, he is kind of fun to be around," he was almost unable to hold in his laughter.

"Yeah."

"And he's cute."

"Ye-" Raven caught herself and threw a death glare to the athletic teen. "Victor!" The pale girl growled as she slowly rose from her seat in anger.

Victor's grin faltered a little, and he realized that he might just have to learn to think things through fully before acting when around Raven. "Sorry," he spoke quickly. "That was a force of habit." Raven remained standing, her glare fixated on Victor. "I promise that nothing like that will ever happen again," Victor pleaded. '_At least not while you can hear me,' _he mentally added with a snicker.

Raven glared deep into the cowering athlete's eyes, as if searching for any sign of dishonestly. All she saw was genuine sincerity though, in spite of Victor's far from honest thoughts. The only thing that Victor was sincere about was not wanting to get hurt, and unfortunately for Raven, that is the only thing she saw.

"Fine," she said as she eased her glare off of the dark skinned boy. "Just do not ever say anything stupid like that again. If you think it is frustrating enduring you all of the time, then you can just imagine how annoying it is to stop myself from forcing you to live out every nightmare you have ever had every time you make me mad. If you ever tease me about something that has absolutely no merit at all or if I hear from Garfield that you have been doing the same thing to him at any point from now on, I will make this world become your own personal, never-ending nightmare." With that, she sat back down in her seat and played with the cover of her book, hoping that her subtle action would alert Victor of the fact that she would prefer him to leave her to her reading in peace. Unfortunately, her actions went unnoticed.

"Look," Victor sighed as he tried to get over the fear he was feeling now. "I did not come over here to tease you. That just happened, and I'm sorry. All I wanted to do was apologize and invite you over to our table. There's no point in you sitting here by yourself when you have a table full of possible friends. Garfield is there, and no, I did not mean anything by that statement. You said he's your friend, and trust me, you'll feel a lot better if you are surrounded by friends. Besides, Kori is there, and she really wants to meet you on a more friendly level than you were when you were assaulting our entire gym class with balls."

The prospect of another female to converse with did appeal to Raven. She had to admit, someone she could talk to about things that were beyond the scope of an average guy's mental capacity would be a perfect person to endure. As long as Kori did not go too overboard with all the girlish stuff, she could see herself actually enjoying Kori's company. Then again, there was still the trust issue. She did not know anything at all about Kori. How could she possibly be even thinking about entrusting her friendship to someone she did not even know? Then again, how much did she really know about Garfield? She was so close to letting down her mental and emotional barriers for him all because he did something nice for her, but she still hardly knew anything at all about him. Maybe she should give Kori a chance.

"I mean," Victor continued, "Kori looked really hurt when you ignored her and walked away when we got here, Raven. I think she almost cried."

Now, Raven felt horrible, and her expression softened.

Victor continued unaware of how soft Raven's expression was getting. "Didn't you hear Kori tell Richard how much she wanted a female friend to participate in all the native female sleepover rituals with."

Raven's expression fell. She knew where this was going, and she hated it.

"She was talking about wanting for you two to braid each other's hair," Victor rambled on, hoping that Raven was even the slightest bit interested in these types of things, "have pillow fights, give each other makeovers… Just the stereotypical girl stuff that everyone thinks girls do with each other. I don't know if girls actually like doing those types of things, but, no offense, you don't come off as the type of girl who enjoys doing stuff like that anyway."

"For once, Victor," Raven said stolidly, "there was no offense taken by what you said. You're right. I don't enjoy things like that, and I honestly do not see how any self respecting girl would waste their own time on something that trivial in the long run. There are thousands of things more important than living up to the stereotype that already plagues our existence."

"So…" Victor paused for a second. "You gunna come over and sit with us?"

The pale teen sighed. "If I say no, will you leave me alone."

"If you say no," Victor grinned, "I'll just go get Garfield to come convince you, and you know just how persistent he can be when it comes to you."

Raven groaned loudly before standing to her feet once more. Victor's eyes went wide and he flinched in fear, but quickly regained his composure when he saw that Raven had picked up her book this time. "Fine," Raven said hatefully. "I'll go. But if you so much as utter a word of an innuendo about Garfield and I, I will not only take the actions I promised you I would, but I will never sit with you all again, and I am sure Kori will hold that against you for a very long time, and seeing how much the black haired boy latched to Kori is infatuated with her, I am sure that he'll hold it against you as well."

With that, the purple haired girl walked off towards her new seat, leaving Victor to flash a thumbs up at a grinning Garfield and an ecstatic Kori. His mission was accomplished, and now, he had time to plot his revenge.

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**In addition to your reviews, I'd like to know your opinions on the new chapter length. ** **  
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	10. A Picture is Worth a Thousand Wounds

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Teen Titans, unfortunately. Any views or opinions expressed in this fan fiction are strictly those of the author, me. The latter statement is probably just a formality, unless I somehow work my love of all things Canadian **(GO CANADA)** into this fan fiction.

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**Chapter 9: A Picture is Worth a Thousand Wounds**

The father of the once little girl, now slightly agitated that there were no paper towels in the men's bathroom to wipe his wet hands off with, walked out of the doorless lavatory taking a quick glance to the opening to the women's side of the bathroom building while he wiped his hands on the leg of his pants. To his further frustration, he saw that his wife had not yet emerged from her end of the restrooms, though this came hardly as a surprise to him. Like all men naturally did, he had an advantage over his wife when it came to the amount of time it took to use the bathroom. Thus, rather than wait around for God only knew how long it would be until the man's wife returned to him, the man wisely decided to return his attention to his highest priority, his daughter, whom he and his wife had left on the swings to play alone for a mere five minutes trusting that nothing could possibly happen to her in that short of an amount of time.

In their mind, there was nothing wrong with leaving their young daughter alone for a very short amount of time. After all, they had spent the better part of a year beating into her head all the rules and little things to live by that both of them believed in. Some of those rules contained in the list was to never trust strangers, which she could have used a refresher course in, and at the first sign of trouble, she should call for them as loud as she could. At the top of their list, however, was respecting the elderly, and that was perhaps the thing that led to their daughter's downfall, though they had yet to realize exactly what trouble their daughter had been forced into. Perhaps they should have spent more time prioritizing not trusting strangers and explained that even the elderly are strangers unless you know them. Yet, the past could not be changed at this point in time. What was done had been done, and there was no stopping the father of the little girl from turning his head and allowing the swings where he left his daughter to come into view. Nothing could have braced him for what he saw next.

In the place of his daughter, a woman slightly younger than him was sitting in the cold dirt the swings were placed over with the remains of one broken swing hanging lifelessly around her. The woman had for some reason found it appropriate to wear clothes several sizes too small for her that deliberately showed off almost every area of her body. The man could not help but notice, but he quickly reprimanded himself for looking and quickly thought of his now missing daughter and his loving wife. The last thing he needed to do at a time like this was to look at another woman in a manner that was usually reserved for his wife. If he only knew exactly who that girl was, he'd probably gouge out his own eyes in repugnance. However, right now the only thing that was running through his mind was the daughter he had just lost, and the only lead he had right now was this woman. He only hoped that she knew something useful.

Quickly, the man forced himself to rush towards the woman, surprising himself at exactly what speed he was now running at. Before, he did not feel all that panicked. He was worried and shocked, yes, but a part of him almost knew that everything was okay and refused any feelings of panic to emerge within him. However, now that he was moving, he could tell just how panicked he really was. He had just meant to walk, but his body had sprung forth in a sprint that quickly became a run. With each step, his strides became wider, and the more and more he could feel his worry and concern rising. As he neared the woman, however, it became evidently clear that this girl was not in the least bit happy. In fact, she was quite the opposite.

The little girl, although the slight pain she had felt when she collided hard with the ground had long since passed, continued to sob uncontrollably in the hopes of attracting the attention of her parents. It bothered her greatly that her voice was no longer as high as it used to be a few minutes prior, and her clothes were now immensely uncomfortable considering just how much maturing her body had gone through in such a short amount of time. Through her sobs, the little girl tried her hardest to pull her tight shirt away from her body as far as it would go without ripping to give her torso some much needed ventilation. However, most of the time, the only thing she managed to accomplish was occasionally pinching herself in sensitive areas of her chest due to her inability to get a decent hold on the fabric without grabbing onto the skin underneath. Though she had not begun to realize it fully until now, things definitely were not like they were a few minutes ago, and she hated it.

Because her voice had deepened slightly, it no longer carried as far as it would have in its previous higher pitch, and they were no longer powerful enough to travel all the way to where her parent's were using the bathroom. Yet, in her limited comprehension, the girl did not understand this fact, and her solution to her parents not showing up so far was to force more and more air out of her lungs until her cries grew louder each time. Needless to say, the girl's voice was more than tired, and her throat was getting sore from the amount of crying she had done in the past few minutes. She wanted her parents, though, and she would not stop until she got what she wanted. She never did.

The man, finally reaching the sobbing woman, skidded across the loose dirt beneath the swings to come to a halt in front of the girl. With his daughter still on his mind, the man's first instincts were to bombard the woman with questions and demands of if she had seen his daughter as he came to be where she was. However, though this man did tend to objectify women during times of weakness, he still was the type of man that hated to see a woman cry. Besides, he reasoned with himself that he could get a lot more accurate information from a calm woman than a hysterical one.

Carefully, the man crouched down and reached out a shaky hand, placing it comfortingly on the sobbing woman's shoulder. Mentally, he prayed that this woman was not one of those women that attacked anything that moved out of fear during the times that they cried. The last thing he needed was to come out with a broken hand and eyeful of mace from this little encounter. Not to mention the fact that he would have to explain to his wife why a woman was yelling about sexual harassment with tears in her eyes as she stood over him. There was no telling what kind of torture combined with endless nagging he would be in for if that had been the case. Thankfully, his touch had gotten the woman's attention, but her reaction was not one that even he could have guessed.

The once little girl slowly raised her teary eyes to meet the now blurry image of what she could barely make out as her father. With a slightly louder cry than normal, though it was far from another sob, the girl leaped forward and tightly wrapped her arms in a vice around her father's neck. Clearly not expecting this course of action, the father instantly lost his balance, falling backwards and landing on the ground in a similar position that the woman had been in a few moments before. To his amazement, he heard, though muffled, the woman who was now burying her face into his chest call him something that he had thought no other girl in the word would ever call him. But, what she had should not even be physically possible. It could not be possible, but for the first time, he started to notice just how similar this woman's clothes were in comparison to his missing daughter's.

Unknowingly, the man's arms somehow found their way around the woman clutching onto him, and to his relief, this seemed to calm her down a bit. However, the worst thing in the world that was possible to happen at that moment did happen, and no one had seen it coming. Out of the corner of the man's eye, he saw the beautiful face of his wife, but she was anything but happy. To his horror, he soon realized just how bad this looked for him, and it was about to get worse. His wife was stamping over towards him, getting redder in fury with each step. This was definitely not good for him.

As a last resort, the man tried his hardest to pry the arms of whom he suspected either was or was somehow connected to his daughter off of him, but his efforts were in vain. Like he remembered his daughter to have, this woman too had one of the tightest grips he had ever seen. Thus, the more he struggled to get this woman's arms off from around him, the tighter she seemed to grip him. It was altogether hopeless, but he was far from about to give up. However, to his utter horror, the woman latched onto him started to giggle and squirm around on top of him like she thought this was some sort of game.

In fact, that was exactly what she was thinking. Before the transformation, the girl had done things like this all the time with her father. She would latch onto a limb or his neck, and her father would try to get her off. They would have loads of fun, or at least she did. Her father found this rather annoying, and almost threw her off at times due to a lost temper. Yet, this time was different. For some reason, the girl found it extremely easy to keep a hold on her father and not let go. His attempts to force her off came with a lot more struggle than she remembered they used to. Somehow, the playing field seemed a lot more level now that the change had occurred. Though she did not understand it, she rather liked it more now that she stood a fighting chance in her little game. This was truly fun.

Her father, however, was not having the same good time she was. With every step his wife took closer to him, the fear swelled more and more within him. Though he knew that he could indeed come out on top during a fight, he respected enough of his wife and women in general to never raise a hand against them, but he knew for a fact that his wife had no such reservations about hitting him. Throughout some of their more lengthy fights, he sometimes wondered if hitting him was one of her favorite things to do for entertainment. She had evidently always come out of the scuffle in higher spirits, unlike him. However, he had never seen his wife as mad as she was now, and he knew that the chances were that he would not be able to get out of this one without a few cuts and scratches to show for it. He only prayed that he was able to get through to her in time before she did something really drastic to him.

"Umm," the father of the girl stammered at his wife as he mentally prayed to any God that would hear him that she would believe what he was saying, "Hey, …I-"

"Don't you 'Hey' me, Joshua!" The woman snapped at her husband in fury. "I go to the bathroom for five minutes, and I come out to find my _faithful_ husband three inches from making out with this," she pointed a shaking finger, "this… this tramp!"

"Maria," Joshua started, but his wife cut him off.

"No!" She yelled angrily. "I don't want to hear it anymore. You're supposed to be looking after our daughter, but obviously, you don't love me or her enough to even do that. You'd rather just do whatever you can to get some random woman to-," for the first time in her rant, Maria noticed the absence of her daughter, and she narrowed her eyes at her husband. "Where is April? Where is our daughter, Joshua?"

"That's what I was trying to tall you," Joshua sighed. This next sentence would not go over too well. "I don't know exactly."

"What do you mean you don't know!" Maria screamed as panic and fear overwhelmed her senses.

"That's what I said, Maria," the man stated slightly agitated with his wife. "I… uh… actually have a hunch. I think that… uh… I think that this woman is-"

The girl that had latched onto her father had heard the other woman's voice and looked over her shoulder to see just who was behind her. When she saw who it was, the girl automatically beamed at her mother and did something that was just natural for someone of her mental age to do. "Mommy!" She yelled in glee as she let go of her father and lunged up at her mother, latched onto her in a similar manner as she had clutched onto her father.

Naturally, Maria was taken aback by this woman's actions as she struggled to keep her balance with the added weight leaning on her. Did this young woman just call her 'Mommy'? To her, that just did not make any sense, but it did not change the fact that the woman now leaning on her joyfully seemed to actually believe that she was her mother. Maria's first thought was that this woman was crazy, and she was about to yell once again at her husband for hitting on a crazy person, but the thought that maybe what had just happened to her was what happened to him stopped her from yelling at him. She did not want to believe it, though. She was still angry, and she did not want to let her anger go so soon.

The once little girl, however, did not notice her mother's anger. She was happy, and that was all that mattered to her at the moment. Reluctantly, she loosened her grasp on her Mother and leaned back to look at her in the face. "Mommy," the girl stated with a grin, "you got shorter."

"Um," Maria began hesitantly, "yeah." She looked over at her husband with a look pleading for help. Unfortunately, he had given her the exact same look. Neither of them knew what was going on.

"Look at her clothes," Joshua stated nervously. "They look just like-"

"No," Maria interrupted quickly. "Don't you dare finish that sentence. That's not even possible. I'll tell you what happened. This… woman… kidnapped our daughter and is playing with our heads. She wants us to believe her, but I'm not that gullible. We're going to take a little trip to the police station. That will wipe that smirk off of her face." With that, Maria began to drag the woman, whose arms were still tightly around her neck, towards the nearest park exit.

Quickly getting to his feet, Joshua jogged to his wife's side and looked at her quizzically. "If you're so sure that this woman took our daughter, aren't you at least going to ask her where she is?"

"Oh, I'll ask her alright," Maria snickered to herself. "She's going to be asked a lot of questions down at the police station, and I'll guarantee that they're not going to stop until I get my April back."

Deciding that it was best to leave his wife to her own means of trying to both cope with and deal with their missing daughter at the same time, Joshua stayed far out of her way. "Okay," he spoke hesitantly, "you do that. I'll just take a look around the park before I meet up with you. If you are right about that woman, then our daughter has to still be around here somewhere. There just wasn't enough time to get her very far and take her place at the swings." With that, the married couple went their separate ways in search of their lost child.

_llllllllllllllllllll_

Art. It is the thing that every human being in the universe has in common. No matter how they were brought up, no matter where they came from, no matter what type of person they are, every single individual on Earth has a sense of artistic perspective. For some, the only outlet for their art is the way in which they dress. For others, they express themselves through traditional art like music, paintings, written works, and many other ways. But, no matter how a person expresses themselves, it is always art, and art always deserves people's appreciation. However, for students in Art class, it is mostly a blow off class.

The lunch period had finished calmer than Raven had expected, but she still was not able to get any decent reading done during it. Garfield had taken it upon himself to find out just why Raven was not eating anything. Those questions got annoying fast, and she ended up yelling at him, making everyone in the lunchroom stare at her like she was a freak. Needless to say, that was not quite that pleasant. However, Raven did not mind being stared at as much that time. At least it brought some much needed silence to her, but that unfortunately did not last that long.

Much to everyone's horror, Richard and Kori had actually started flirting. Raven could not believe it. They had known each other for barely a day and they were already flirting. Either the fates had long ago destined them to be, or something was very wrong with them. And what made things worse was that when Kori was not flirting with Richard, she was actually bombarding Raven with millions of useless and unimportant questions. How exactly was asking someone what their waist size was appropriate dining conversation? Needless to say, Raven had respectfully declined to answer that question. Raven only hoped that Kori's obsession with knowing anything and everything about everyone else was only limited to people she just met.

However, sitting with the group of friends Garfield had somehow made was not as bad as she had first thought it would be. The worst part about it was Kori's questionnaire, but during it, Kori spat out question after question so fast that it was over before she even had time to realize what had happened. After that, it was actually quite peaceful, though she tried her best to stay out of everyone else's conversations unless she was addressed directly. She found it very rude when other people just jumped into conversations, so she opted to give everyone else the respect that she always wanted in hopes that they would learn from her and do the same in situations involving her, but by the way Garfield and Victor were continuously shouting to be heard over Kori and Richard's flirts, she assumed that her lesson fell on deaf ears.

But that was lunch, and it had ended long ago, forcing the group to reluctantly make their way over to their next class, Art. This was quite possibly going to be Raven's favorite class of the day. The teacher had taken it upon herself to not only make it her goal to help her students find their artistic perspective, but also help them appreciate Art in general. Though she was not looking forward to finding her niche in the artistic world, Raven did appreciate all kinds of art but was obviously most fond of written forms of art. She only hoped that the teacher was just as enthusiastic about them as she was.

However, today had nothing to do with the written forms of art, much to Raven's dismay. Instead, the teacher had explained that they would be working on a short assignment due at the end of class. Each student had to pick someone in the room to draw a picture of. Since it was still relatively the beginning of the year, she did not expect too much from their pictures. All she wanted was to be able to tell who each student drew just by looking at the picture, but the drawings were obviously unable to have any text on them at all. That would defeat the purpose of the whole assignment.

"So, let me get this straight," Garfield said in mild disbelief after their teacher, a rather busty young teacher who looked extremely beautiful, had finished explaining their art assignment for today. "All I have to do to get a passing grated for today is just draw a decent picture of someone in the room? That's it? No strings attached? Just a picture?"

The long, blond haired art teacher smiled warmly at her green haired student. "That's right. If you get finished, you can use the class set of colored pencils to give your picture some color, but that isn't necessary to pass. If you don't plan on coloring it, however, I want you all to practice shading with your pencils. We won't really go into proper shading techniques until Thursday, but it never hurts to try and get a leg up on the class, don't you think?"

Garfield made a face like he was trying hard to understand. "So… I just spend the class doodling, and I get a grade?"

The teacher's smile faded slightly at Garfield's unenthused attitude. "Well, yes, but-"

"Sweet!" The jovial boy almost yelled in excitement, which caused Raven and the rest of their group to roll their eyes at his antics, but Garfield did not notice. "This is going to be the best class ever!"

"I'm glad you think that way," the blond haired woman giggled slightly at how quickly Garfield's attitude seemed to turn around completely, "but it only gets harder from here. This is only the most basic form of art, but it is essential to know so you can move on to some more advanced forms like painting, sculpting, and –," the teacher's voice trailed off as she realized that no one in the class was paying attention to her anymore, and they were each following the green haired boy's example of getting their sketching materials out rather noisily. There was no use continuing on any further. They were lost to her. Sighing to herself, the blond haired teacher made her way back to her seat.

Having taken out a blank sheet of paper and a pencil from his backpack, Victor stared down at the pure white sheet on the table below him hoping that some form of inspiration would come to him. He knew the assignment called for him to draw one of his fellow classmates, but he honestly sucked at drawing. The best he could do was draw little cartoon people. Real people were much harder, not to mention the fact that his choices in people were quite slim.

Basically, Victor did not really feel comfortable with drawing someone he did not even know. He'd need to look over at them from time to time to get their minor details right, and if they saw him looking, it might lead to an embarrassing situation and that was the last thing he wanted… for him. A sinister grin spread across his face as a devious plan began to form in his mind. He'd not only be able to get his revenge on Gar for blackmailing him, but he'd have a little fun and get a passing grade along with it. Without any further hesitation, Victor quickly got to work on his picture, smirking fiendishly all the while.

Kori sat in her seat frowning down at her nearly blank piece of paper. As much as she disliked admitting it, she was not very talented at drawing other things, and people seemed to escape her entirely. Of course, she knew exactly who she was going to draw. It did not take a genius to figure that one out, especially when she kept taking idle glances over at Richard every few seconds. Although, anyone who had seen her earlier in the day probably would think that she is yet again trying to flirt with the dark haired boy like she had done so often before. However, even then people would most assuredly be able to put the pieces together themselves, but the fact that who she was drawing was obvious did not help her draw him.

Sighing slightly after quickly figuring out that the eraser end of the pencil was not the side she was supposed to draw with, Kori flipped her pencil over and held it correctly hoping that no one had seen her in her moment of naivety. Her paper was now filled with little annoying red rubbery shavings that seemed to not want to let go of her paper no matter how many times she swiped her hand across it. Those shavings did, however, seem to take the form of a very bubbly looking figure. It was far from anything a normal human looked like, but it was a start. Carefully pressing the correct side of the pencil to the paper, Kori slowly outlined that bubbly eraser shaving figure with a dark line that seemed to magically appear from the pencil.

Contrary to the belief of some students that had the pleasure of being in the same class as Kori, she was not stupid. In fact, she was far from it. Most of the things that had been "taught" to her today, she had already known, though the history of Earth was something she had never learned before. However, that was not what was bothering her right now. It was the pencil. From the look of the people around her, this pencil seemed to be quite common, and she distinctly remembered using one in her old school. But if that were true, then why did it feel so unfamiliar to her now that she was using one? It just did not make any sense to her. She tried not to dwell on it as she continued working on her very crude drawing of Richard, but it kept rising in her mind whenever she tried to draw some of the more detailed parts of Richard's body.

"Hey, Kori," Richard whispered softly beside her, effectively forcing her to lose her train of thought. The red headed girl immediately jerked her head up to face Richard in surprise, but her expression quickly turned warm when she met his gaze.

"Yes, good friend Richard?" Kori said with a smile, making Richard smile back at her.

"Who are you drawing?" he asked, trying not to sound like his hope was too obvious. He did not have to try hard, though. Richard had always been very good at concealing his emotions and what he was thinking. He just thought that it was some innate gift he had, and he never gave it much thought but he did find it quite useful at times. However, much to his dismay, it seemed that his efforts to hide what he was feeling had little effect on Kori, who giggled silently at him and turned a shade of pink.

"Oh," Kori stated hesitantly, knowing that Richard would want to see her drawing if he found out that she was drawing him. "Just… somebody."

It was hard for Kori not to notice the slight change in Richard's expression. She had practically memorized every inch of his face, except the parts underneath those concealing sunglasses. However, even without seeing what was underneath those she could tell that his expression had shifted from hope to disappointment, which confused her a little. Was he hoping that she was drawing him, or was it merely that he was hoping that she would tell him who she was drawing? Kori wished it was the first, but she could not tell for sure. She tried to open her mouth to ask Richard why he wanted to know, but her face fell when she saw that he had already gone back to concentrating on his own paper. She had missed her chance, and the only thing left for her to do was return her attention to her own drawing. Unfortunately for them all, her previous perceptive train of thought had long since been forgotten.

On the other side of the table the group of once Titans had claimed, Raven was nearing completion of her drawing. Just because she liked drawing out of all the forms of art the least did not mean that she was not decent at it. However, she was not spectacular, as she knew beforehand that she would not be. Her talent for drawing was about along the same lines as Victor's, though she prided herself in being able to draw more than cartoon-like figures, which was something Victor could not do. Raven's drawings were very close to looking almost real, though there were still several places she could improve upon. She did not want to improve, though, and she was quite content at being the worst at the form of art that she disliked the most. However, even she had to admit that she was truly enjoying drawing this picture, and she could not wait to show it off. She mentally snickered evilly. Yes, she knew that he would just love this.

Chancing a look at Garfield, Raven noticed that he was still hard at work on his drawing that he had been so excited about at the beginning of the class. His eyes were fixed on his paper, and no matter how many soft voices around the classroom broke the silence, he never looked up. His eyes seemed to be glazed over, though, like he was in some sort of a trance and the only way out was to finish the drawing of… of whatever he was drawing. Raven never bothered to look, but it would not have made a difference if she had. Garfield had concealed his entire paper from her with the side of his arm and was doing his best to hide it from Victor every time he tried to sneak a glance at it.

Whatever he was drawing, he was being rather protective of it. It was almost too protective, in fact. That just made Raven want to see it even more, but she quickly reprimanded herself mentally when she caught herself leaning over towards Gar to take a quick glance at his paper. She wanted nothing more than for people to respect her privacy, and she would not stoop so low as to become a hypocrite and invade one of her friend's privacy. She was better than that, and although it was difficult, she forced herself to shift her concentration back on her own paper.

To everyone's surprise, time seemed to fly by as each student worked vigorously on their own drawing. They were all engrossed in the assignment, as it was the easiest and most enjoyable one that anyone had been given that day. The whole class seemed to enjoy themselves the entire time, which was probably the reason that they were quite startled when the Art teacher stood to her feet and addressed the class loudly.

"Alright class," the blond haired teacher smiled as she stood to her feet, "I think this would be the best stopping point for today. If I let you all keep going any longer, then I won't be able to critique them properly. Pencils down, everyone, and let me see what you have when I come to you." She rummaged through a cup filled with various writing utensils on her desk before pulling out a single red pen and moving towards one side of the class. Much to their relief, it was on the opposite side of the room than where the Titans were sitting.

However, to everyone's utter horror, this nice and polite Art teacher somehow transformed into a demon when grading. The first few people she graded got twenty points deducted for not being finished, even though they were each only missing one or two lines to make their drawing complete. When they pleaded for her to show some compassion, she deducted another ten. Everyone in the room sat agape at her, not wanting to believe that someone who seemed so nice at first could have such an evil mean streak.

Raven was not surprised to see what each of the other students had drawn as the teacher went down the row, grading their work. Most of the boys had drawn the other girls, giving them the excuse to stare at some of their more private features under the pretense of making sure that they got them exact. None of the other girls seemed to mind, though. They all just giggled pleasantly whenever a boy revealed their picture of them. Some pictures were highly exaggerated, and Raven swore to herself that if any person tried to draw her **that **inaccurately, they would not wake up the next morning.

Thankfully, she did not have to endure sitting idly by and watching as the women in this class slowly grew more and more objectified by the boys in class. The teacher moved on to a group of giggling and peppy girls next. This, in all honestly, she might have hated more because those girls seemed to be happy that they were looked upon as mere objects. Raven scoffed and glared at how low the group of girls had sunk. Obviously, none of them had any dignity left in them. It was sickening.

She was not surprised when it turned out that those girls had taken a similar route as the boys had done, though they did it with a bit more class and maturity. The majority of the girls had drawn a picture of either one of the other girls or of Richard, which brought a scowl to Kori's face. Raven smirked at this. She could not fathom why Victor would waste his time insinuating that she and Garfield had some sort of secret, undying attraction towards each other when people as obvious as Richard and Kori existed. Though, she knew that no matter how much logic she put behind it, Victor would not abandon his futile beliefs… at least not without the proper incentive. Knowing Victor, she would be giving him that incentive quicker than anyone thought.

Yet, her mind seemed to halt entirely as she watched one very quiet and bashful girl blush as she handed her paper to the teacher for her to show the rest of the class. It was of Garfield, and the drawing was very good. If life was in black and white, Raven was sure that she would not have been able to tell the difference between the drawing and the real thing. The girl smiled warmly at Garfield, who blushed and grinned back. Though she did not understand why nor would she ever admit it, Raven did not like that in the least, and it was written all over her face with a very angry glare directed towards the girl.

Victor seemed to share Raven's angry look, but for a completely different reason. No matter how much he loved to tease the two friends about their nonexistent relationship, he actually thought that they would be good for each other, though it would be good for him if he had his fun with them whenever possible. In his mind, it was the natural thing to do. However, this new girl, for whatever reasons she had, seemed to have taken it upon herself to get in between Raven and Garfield, and what made things worse was that Garfield did not seem to mind. Though, Victor had to admit that he could not think of any guy who would object to multiple girls vying for his affection. It was every man's dream, was it not?

An idea surfaced in Victor's mind as he glared at the shy girl, and he chose to steal a glance at Raven. Much to his pure glee, he noticed just how strong Raven's glare had become. Victor could almost feel the hate in her eyes as she looked angrily at the girl, and he could not help but grin. If only Raven knew what kind of message she was sending anyone that saw her now, though she obviously did not know how her actions made her look to anyone who saw her now. That made Victor smile. Even if this new girl thought she could wedge in between Raven and Garfield, Victor's money was on Raven to beat her out once she realized exactly what she felt for the green haired boy. Thus, it would not hurt to continue on with the torment Victor had planned for the two of them. They would thank him someday, or at least he hoped they would.

After waving at the girl, Garfield quickly returned his attention to his own picture. A part of him felt bad for the girl. She had drawn him, but he was obviously not drawn her. Was she expecting some sort of dramatic display from him to her now, or did she just draw that to catch his eye and somehow hint at her own feelings for him? Girls were confusing, and Garfield hated trying to figure out what the meaning behind what they say is. He supposed that he should probably be prepared for whatever the girl meant by it, so he took another quick glance at the shy girl.

She had long, shiny brown hair that complimented her brown eyes, and he had to admit that the rest of her body would not hurt anyone's eyes to gaze at. Sure, she was pretty, but a part of Garfield wondered if that was all she was. Gar had known long ago exactly what he wanted in a girl, and he had made a sort of mental list. He wanted a girl that was smart, caring, thoughtful, honest, kind, a person that appreciated just who he was, and a person that understood who he was on the inside. Just how beautiful that someone was to him was just an added bonus in the end. Without thinking, Garfield's gaze returned to his picture and he began to reminisce about all of the matching qualities he had discovered the person he drew to have had, but Gar quickly caught himself and shook his mind vigorously back to reality.

'_Stupid Victor,'_ Garfield thought. _'I'm starting to actually consider everything he's insinuating. I wish he would just lay off. It's for the best.'_

Raven's glare lingered so long on the girl that she did not even notice the teacher stop in front of Richard and Kori, and the now close proximity of her voice snapped her back to attention, though she hardly needed to pay attention to figure out what Richard and Kori drew.

'_Richard drew Kori… in a dress probably, and Kori drew Richard, I would guess,'_ Raven thought to herself as she sent another glare to the girl still looking at Garfield. Each time she did, she had to force herself to stop because she would find no real reason to be mad at that girl, especially if the reason seemed to be because she was just flirting with Gar. Forcing herself back to what was happening in front of her, Raven shifted her gaze back to what Richard and Kori had drawn.

It came as no surprise to Raven that Richard did indeed draw Kori in a dress, and she was grateful to him for not overdoing some parts of her body like some of the other boys had done to the other girls. It was not the best picture, but it was obvious to anyone that it was Kori, which gained him a squeal of glee and a hug from the red headed teen as she handed in her picture. Her picture of Richard was the most poorly drawn picture in the class, but it did get a grin out of the dark haired boy. Raven grinned, but not because of this putrid public display of affection, but because the picture she had been waiting for was next.

Victor looked at his picture with pride as he waited for the teacher to traverse the few feet between him and Kori. It had turned out far better than he had expected, though it still looked mostly like a cartoon drawing rather than a real sketch of people. However, that could not be helped. He had done the best he could have done, and now all that was left was to hand it in and hope for the best for him but the worst for the ones he drew. Revenge was a dish, but he did not like it cold. He always got it as soon as humanly possibly, and that is how he preferred it.

"You're another one of my new students, aren't you?" The blond haired teacher asked, eyeing Victor judgingly. She did not like it when a student just appeared sometime after school had started at the beginning of the semester. They had missed her previous lessons, and it was obvious by the way Kori poorly attempted to make a legible drawing. She could still tell that she had attempted to draw the boy beside her, but it was annoying to know that some of the things she had her other students practice before today would have helped her smooth out those rough edges in her work. She only hoped that this new student would prove to be at least a decent artist.

"Yeah," Victor answered suddenly fearful of her opinion of his drawing. "I just started today. My name is Victor Stone."

"Aright, Victor," the teacher spoke as nicely as possible. "Hand me your paper, and I'll take it from there."

Hesitantly, Victor took one last look at his masterpiece and then handed it over to the blond haired woman. The teacher looked it over to find all the mistakes she was planning to point out to the rest of the class when she showed them, but a rather large smile spread across her face once she saw exactly what Victor had drawn. His picture was not the type of picture she was looking for, but the reaction she was having to it made her overlook that fact. Trying not to be noticed, she took a quick glance at the last two students in the class that had yet to have their picture get graded, and she instantly recognized them as the two people in the picture. It was the first time any of the students had ever seen their Art teacher laugh uncontrollably.

The picture was most similar to a cartoon strip, but with only one frame. However, the meaning was perfectly clear. There was a banner hanging from the top of the page that was labeled "The Friend Zone," and there were two people standing beneath it. As the teacher had inferred at first glance, the two people in the picture were none other than Garfield and Raven in clothes rather similar to what they were wearing now. However, it was what the cartoon Garfield and Raven were doing that caused the blond haired teacher to erupt in a fit of laughter. They were both locked in a warm embrace with the other, clearly making out without a care in the world. There was also a sign to the left of the duo that read "We Swear We're Just Friends."

"This is," the teacher stated trying to gain control of her laughter, "not exactly the assignment I gave, but I won't deny you credit. Though, I won't give you full credit for this… cartoon. I specifically mentioned for your picture not to include text, but you took it upon yourself to disregard that stipulation. I'll let it slide this time since you did not use the text to reveal who you were drawing. All in all, it is a decent cartoon. Unfortunately, Victor, handing in this type of cartoon only tells me that you do not have the artistic skills required to pass this class, but the scene you depicted also tells me that you have almost the perfect view of humanity and human emotions. That can take you far as an artist if you take it more seriously than you have here."

Victor smiled smugly as he watched the blond haired woman make a move to turn his paper around to reveal his drawing to the class, but something odd caught his eye. To his right, Raven was smiling too. That unnerved him. Most of the time Raven smiled it was because she had found some sort of satisfaction in taking her anger out on someone, but this could not possibly be the case this time. He had not made her angry with him… yet. True, when the teacher revealed his drawing to the rest of the class, she would probably hold it against him for weeks, but he was counting on her being too flushed and embarrassed about what her cartoon namesake was doing to the cartoon Garfield. That would keep her mind off of him for a bit, and maybe even allow him enough time to get as far away from her as he could.

However, the fact that Raven was smiling seemed to make his mind jump to the most impossible conclusion. There was no way she knew what he had planned. He should have been safe, but Raven's smile quickly transformed into an evil smirk as she held up her drawing for Victor to see. There was a lot of text that read "I know how your mind works, Victor. Get that paper back and burn it before anyone sees it, or this will be your future." Beneath those words, Victor was horrified to see a rough drawing on him running for his life while a likewise rough sketch of Raven herself was giving chase. That as it was did not frighten Victor that much, but it was the baseball bat with a rusty nail pointing out of it in the drawing Raven's hands that scared him.

Not wanting to find out if Raven was bluffing or not, Victor quickly dove forward in his seat and ripped his paper out of the teacher's hands. Before she could say a word of protest, Victor had ripped the paper apart over and over again until what he had drawn was impossible to put together again. His crisis had been averted.

"Victor," the teacher sighed. "Why on Earth would you –" She was cut off by Victor pointing an accusatory finger in the direction of Raven, who was still holding her picture up for all to see, but now her smirk was one of triumph. "I see," the teacher spoke as she walked over towards the pale teen and took the new drawing out of her hands. "I must say, this is the best representation of anger and revenge I have seen in a long time. Though, your style and attempted shading are lacking. My advice to you is to pay close attention in this class for the next few days. With a little refining, you'd be a magnificent artist. However, as this is clearly a form or a threat to Victor's physical harm, I should notify the office about this, but I will sympathize with your reasons this time. Just do not ever draw something like this again, no matter how much someone deserves it."

Raven's smirk remained on her face as the teacher placed her drawing on the stack that had cumulated as the teacher had crossed the room. Now, there was only one person left to critique: Garfield. By the way he had acted at the beginning of class, Raven expected her green haired companion's drawing to be some simplistic stick figure, probably of himself. Oh, how wrong she was. When he relinquished his paper over to the teacher, the blond haired woman's eyes bulged in shock, her hands shook in disbelief, and she almost dropped the paper on several occasions. She was muttering something Raven could not make out, but none of it sounded like she was saying anything bad about the picture, and she realized why soon enough.

Slowly with trembling hands, the teacher flipped the paper over and showed it to the class. Raven's reaction mimicked the teacher's as she stared in utter shock. Garfield's picture was of her, but it was not merely limited to her. His page was filled to every edge with a scene of a majestic hillside with the sun setting on the horizon. In the picture, she was sitting on the grassy hillside with her book in hand, but she did not look like her. Well, it was her, but Raven knew she could not be as beautiful as Garfield had drawn her. She was wearing exactly what she had worn today, but everything about her seemed as majestic as the mountain. How could it have been possible? It looked so real with her hair blowing in the wind, and there were even blades of grass.

However, Raven never noticed the minute details of the picture. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Victor grinning in triumph while trying desperately to hold in his laughter, but she did not truly notice. Her mind was still hung up on how Garfield had made her look. Every time she looked into a mirror, the last descriptive word that came to her mind was pretty or beautiful, but this picture was like looking into some sort of enchanted mirror. Of course, that sounded ridiculous, but it is the impression Raven had as she viewed it. She was almost disappointed when the teacher forced herself to remove it from view and place it on the stack with the others, but one thought stuck in her mind. Was that how Garfield saw her when he looked at her? And if so, how could he possibly see any beauty in her?

"You're Garfield Logan, aren't you?" The teacher asked hesitantly. Gar nodded in confirmation while wearing a bemused expression on his face. "How did you draw something this good at this early in the year?"

"What do you mean?" Gar asked in a confused tone. "It's like I said earlier. I was just doodling. I didn't think it was that good, personally. I finished drawing Raven a while ago, and I got bored so I just started adding other things that just seemed to fit."

The entire class's including the blond haired woman's jaws dropped. "Then… what _is_ good in your opinion, Mr. Logan?" The teacher hesitantly asked.

"I don't know," the green haired boy answered still in his baffled state. "I've never really paid that much attention to art. I think it's really boring, honestly. I just doodle for fun during class every now, and then when I feel like not paying attention." _'Or when I forget my pocket gamestation,' _he added mentally. "I've just always thought that whatever I could do, there were bound to be some professional artists or something out there doing it a million times better."

"Well, that's true," the teacher admitted, "but those people who do this for a living have had years of practice under their belts. I've seen some people who claim to be artists be unable to do anything even remotely as good as what you've just done in less than an hour."

"So," Garfield began timidly, "you think it's good?"

"I think you're a natural," she smiled, "but I am also worried that this class may end up being too remedial for you."

Garfield just smiled. "That's… okay I guess," he said. _'Free blow off class,'_ he thought happily. With that, the bell signaling the end of their second to last hour sounded, and for once, Garfield was sad to leave.

Raven was one of the last to leave, mainly because she could not calm her thoughts enough to find the strength to stand up on her own. Her mind was in a whirl at what she had just seen and heard, and it seemed like nothing could possibly slow it down. However, she felt something grab hold of her arm and force her roughly to her feet in an attempt to jolt her out of her trance.

"Come on," a masculine voice whom she soon pinned as Victor's spoke as he shook her slightly. "You can daydream about your boyfriend later. You can't be late for your last class of the day."

Raven's brow furrowed and she whirled around to punch Victor, but he had already gone knowing exactly what he would get for such a statement. The purple haired teen sighed to herself as she turned back around to gather up her things, but something else caught her eye. It was the brown haired girl, and she was glaring at Raven. She looked up to give the girl her full attention, but the glare was gone. Instead, Raven got a good look at the side of her face as she briskly walked past her. She did not know what to make of what she had just witnessed, but one thing was for certain. Raven did not like this brown haired girl, and it was obvious that the feeling was mutual.


	11. Answering Machine

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Teen Titans, unfortunately. Any views or opinions expressed in this fan fiction are strictly those of the author, me. The latter statement is probably just a formality, unless I somehow work my love of all things Canadian **(GO CANADA)** into this fan fiction.

**Note** I made a mistake in this chapter, and I hope I caught it before any of you read it. I accidentally called Joshua Jonathan the entire chapter. I don't know how that happened.

* * *

**Chapter 10: Answering Machine**

Garfield stood in front of his now open locker, absentmindedly gathering the last of his books for his next and final class. He was too caught up in his own thoughts to really pay attention to what he was doing though, and he had twice caught himself taking out his Algebra book instead of the correct one. One would think that after the second consecutive occurrence he would get the picture and devote his entire attention to what he was doing, but that was not how the green haired teen's mind worked. Besides, he had more than enough to think about.

He had just come from the best class he had ever had in any school he had ever been enrolled in, which made him wonder why none of his previous teachers had ever suggested for him to start taking an interest in art or even art class whenever they had confiscated some of his doodles. Although, he had to admit, he had never put forth as much effort on any of his previous drawings as he did his most recent one. Maybe it was because he knew that he was going to be graded on it and he subconsciously put forth more effort, but that did not sound like him at all. Usually, when it came to schoolwork, he strafed away from anything that resulted in him doing even more work than usual. This time was different, though, and he knew it. The best explanation that he could offer himself, though, was that he was too afraid to let Raven see a crappy drawing of her and that caused him to force a little extra effort into it. It sounded reasonable enough, especially considering that Raven was known for passing out death threats for doing much less than that.

And then, there was that girl. Only once had Garfield ever had a girl openly express an interest in him, and he could still feel the emotional scars that were left behind from that encounter. After that, he had promised himself not to ever get attached to another girl like he had again without actually knowing what she was like on the inside first. He knew all too well about how a person could be completely different than the way they act. In fact, that was one of the reasons he felt so drawn to Raven, in a completely friendly way of course.

It did not take him long to see that there was something deep down within her, hidden from the view of everyone else. It was easy for Gar to see that beneath Raven's agitated and easily angered to the point of physical harm personality, there was a kind and caring person. He deduced that this was the reason he woke up to her face, or back then just her hood, after being knocked out in Gym class. It was hard to believe that it had happened earlier today when it felt like years had passed since then. He supposed that this feeling was because of the time he had lost from being knocked out, but it did not matter anymore.

Garfield also managed to partially drag out Raven's caring side when she helped him in his Algebra class. He swore that he almost saw her smile slightly once or twice during their brief tutoring session, and he could only imagine how her full smile would look head on. A sudden urge to do whatever he could think of to get her to smile came over him, and it took everything he had to push it aside, though it did go against everything he stood for. Again, he did not want to do anything that would risk him losing his hard earned friendship with Raven, at least not yet. He made a mental note to try and think up some jokes she might like over the next few days so he could try them out when he was certain that nothing he could do or say would make Raven hate him, at least not completely.

But that brought him back to the brown eyed girl. He had thought this once before, but he knew very little about her other than the fact that she seemed to take an interest in him, though she seemed too shy for him to tell for sure. Maybe she was just shy about the fact that she could think of no one else to draw but him. It would sure make his life a lot easier if that were the case. It would save him the trouble of getting a headache musing over the possibilities like he was now. After all, he thought it was far too soon for him to be on the lookout for a girlfriend yet, since this was his first day at school. He was more concerned about getting into the swing of things than getting with some random girl he just met, if he could even call that truly meeting her.

A loud metallic slam directly to his right brought Garfield roughly back to reality. Unfortunately for him, roughly was quite a literal description. Startled, Garfield jumped and accidentally hit his head on the top of his locker, causing him to let out several inappropriate words for school. Fortunately enough, his bad luck ended with the searing pain on the top of his head, and there were no teachers or school faculty members near enough to him to hear his outspoken cries of pain. However, that did not mean that no one was around.

"You've got a pretty foul mouth for someone who just made one huge step in getting Raven to willingly go out with you," Victor said jokingly as he exchanged his old books for the ones he would need for his next class. "I mean, I have to give you credit. The fact that you chose to draw Raven and put that much effort into that picture, making Raven look that good, really left an impression." Victor wiped a fake tear from his eye. "I'm just so proud of you little guy. I don't think I could have come up with a better plan myself."

"I did not plan that!" Garfield almost yelled half defensively and half in anger. He was getting more than agitated by Victor's constant teasing about him and Raven, and the prospect of breaking their little deal about where he lived and Raven's lack of knowledge of it. Having knowledge of Victor's immanent doom would certainly make Gar feel a lot better right about now. "Like I told the teacher back in class, I was just doodling. It just so happened that Raven was the closest thing to me and the first thing that popped into my mind. And before you get started, Vic, she popped into my mind in a completely platonic way. Why is it that every time you and I have a conversation just between us, it ends up being just you talking about how 'obvious it is that you two like each other'? I'd say that it is getting annoying, but I'm more than sure that I have already mentioned it once or twice or eight times."

"Hmm," Victor scratched his chin like he was thinking. "It seemed more like seven times to me, but come on. Who's really counting here?" Garfield's eye twitched, but Victor did not seem to notice. Something else was on his mind, something pale with purple hair and was glaring at him from down the hall. "Listen, Gar," the athletic teen spoke hurriedly, "I think I'll just leave you to continue on with whatever you were doing, but if I were to guess, I'd say you were thinking about Raven."

Garfield started to glare, but stopped short of one. It was not entirely untrue, but he hated it when Victor was right.

"See ya later, Gar," Victor called out from a ways down the hall. "And don't screw it up with Raven after doing so well."

Garfield scoffed as he watched Victor go. That last comment was really unnecessary. It was like Victor actually thought that Gar planned to do something incredibly stupid to ruin his friendship with Rae. He was smart enough to keep his mouth shut, at least he thought he was, but it did not matter. He knew it would be really moronic of him to do something insensitive at a time like this. He just drew a picture of Raven without her permission. Though that did not seem like a very big offense, one never knows when it comes to Raven. In his mind, the best possible action would be to not say anything around Raven until he knew that things were okay. Besides, he planned to be nowhere near here by the time Raven caught up with them.

"Garfield," a familiar voice echoed softly behind Gar, making his eyes widen, "though I think I might enjoy making you, could you please get out from in front of my locker? I think you've suffered enough for today, unless you want to stand there and tempt fate by arguing otherwise."

'_Well,'_ Garfield thought to himself as he stiffly moved back over to his own open locker, _'so much for staying off of her radar for a while.' _

"Thanks," Raven said dully. Like everyone else at their lockers, she too swapped out her things and started down the hallway towards her next class, but she chose to do so in silence, which was something that apparently no one else seemed to appreciate. Her lack of verbal interaction, however, left Garfield more confused about her than he already was.

Due to her actions, Gar wondered if she was indeed angry with him. The silent treatment was an accepted method of increasing someone's guilt, and ignoring someone completely worked even better, yet Raven's brief acknowledgement of his presence showed that she was attempting neither. Garfield had to admit that her actions now seemed quite similar to her previous behavior around him. Did that mean that she was okay with the picture he had drawn of her, or was it merely that she never cared? In either instance, there was no way to tell for sure unless he faced his problem head on, which was completely against what he had planned to do in the first place, but Raven seemed unwilling to cooperate with his previous plan. Thus, it was time for Plan B, the direct approach or as he liked to call it: make small talk until you can work into the conversation a question about how she felt about the picture. Okay, maybe it should have been renamed as the not so direct approach.

Hurriedly, Garfield gathered his books, checking twice that they were the right ones this time, and raced down the hallway towards his purple haired friend. "So," he began hesitantly, "having fun?"

Raven gave him a curious look as if she was trying to determine whether or not he was actually serious in asking that.

"Right," Gar laughed nervously. "We're in school. Of course you're not having any fun. And then there's me annoying you with these stupid questions, which probably means you're having even less fun than usual. And-"

"Maybe it would be better if you would just say what you were going to say before you find a way to bore me to death," Raven interrupted, deciding that it was best to get to the point as soon as possible before his rambling made him say something that he would no doubt regret.

"Yeah," Garfield laughed again, rather forcedly, "I just wanted to make sure that you were okay with me choosing you for my drawing back in class….."

"Why wouldn't I be okay with it?" The pale teen retorted. "You followed the assignment. Well, you went above and beyond the assignment, but you still accomplished the basic premise. You needed to draw someone, and the people sitting closest to you were the obvious choice. I'm okay with it, but I just don't understand why you chose to draw me."

"I was either going to draw you or Victor, and I'm sort of still mad at him. So if I were to draw Victor, he would have been getting worse than what you had in you picture. Besides," Garfield smiled sheepishly, "I kinda wanted to draw you anyway."

Raven was taken aback by his admission. "Why would you, or anyone for that matter, want to draw me? There's nothing special about me that people would want to capture."

"Don't you start that, Raven." Garfield spoke sharply as he folded his hands across his chest. "If there's one thing that I hate, it's when someone like you refuses to believe in themselves in any way. You really should have more self-confidence, Raven. You're one of the few people that actually deserve to appreciate who you are. In all honesty, I actually think that-"

"Um… hi," a soft, shy voice spoke out from behind the duo. Alerted to its owner's presence, Garfield and Raven turned to face whoever chose to intrude on their conversation. It was the brown haired girl whom was following directly behind Gar.

"Hi," Garfield answered as kindly as possible, but Raven remained silent as usual. "You're that girl who drew me in class. I'm," he paused as if thinking over what he was about to do. "My name is Gar."

For some reason, Raven smirked at this as if she was taking some sort of pride in knowing Garfield's real name when this new girl did not.

"Gar," the girl repeated in an overly sweet tone. "I like that name. Mine is Emily. It's nice to meet you, Gar."

Garfield smiled genuinely. "Thanks. It's nice to meet someone nice who was here before me. It's my first day, and I don't know a lot of people."

"I noticed," Emily continued to smile, which was starting to creep Garfield out a little bit.

Raven felt odd as she tried to ignore the obvious forced sweetness in the brown haired girl's voice. This was the first time in the entire day when Raven actually felt left out. It was a familiar feeling that she remembered all too well from most of her time before today. Yet, again, this was the first time that this feeling came up in her today. It was quite obvious that it was Garfield that had unknowingly shielded her from feeling left out, but he was busy now. He was talking to some girl that he hardly knew and who was more than obviously forcing the niceness in her voice. A part of Raven wondered just how Garfield was being fooled by this girl's deception, and she wondered exactly what this girl wanted with Garfield, if she was having to mask her real persona.

"I know this school pretty well," Emily spoke again soothingly, "and I would be more than willing to show you around the school sometime if you want."

"No thanks," Gar responded quickly, but he forced a smile to his face as if it were any consolation. "When you've been through as many schools as I have, you tend to learn to get used to a new one quicker than usual. I'm confident that I already know this school like the back of my hand." Garfield's eyes widened in shock as he felt himself being pulled roughly to his right.

"In all your infinite wisdom of this school," Raven said in a rather annoyed tone, "you somehow managed to forget that our schedules said that our English class is down _this _hallway. Though, I'm sure that this is in no way a reflection of your ability to understand the layout of every new school you attend."

Gar gave a small smile in embarrassment. "Yeah. Thanks, Raven. I wasn't paying attention."

"I never would have guessed," the pale teen smirked, but made sure that Garfield was in no position to see it.

"Hey, Gar," the same soft voice spoke from behind them again, and once again, Gar was forced to turn most of his attention towards this new girl.

"Yeah, Emily?" Gar answered absentmindedly. He could have sworn that he saw the tiniest hint of a smile on the side of Raven's face, but it was gone now.

Raven rolled her eyes when she saw the brown haired imposter blush as if Garfield saying her name was a big deal. It was not. Gar said her name all the time, and she never recalled once blushing because of it. It was just a name, and it did not mean anything if someone else spoke it. Raven even had a nickname, though she did despise it. However, the fact that Gar cared enough to give her one counted for something, right? Why did any of this matter to her anyway? It was not like she cared about any of this.

"What's with that girl?" Emily tried to whisper to Garfield, though failing miserably at it. "Are you two… um… are you two… together?" Emily clasped both of her hands together as if her action was supposed to explain exactly what she was trying to say. Apparently, it worked, because Garfield instantly turned crimson, which made him look like a decent Christmas decoration when coupled with his green tipped hair.

"W-What?" Gar stuttered in disbelief. "W-Why would you say that?"

"You two were sitting by each other during class," Emily spoke hesitantly.

"And this automatically makes us a couple… how?" Raven spoke up angrily, deciding that these types of conversations would just keep finding their way to her ears unless she did something about them. Scaring the idea out of people's minds worked great in theory, but it seemed to not be having the correct effect on some people today.

"Well," the brown haired girl continued with a very evident amount of fright in her voice, "it doesn't, but Gar drew a very flattering picture of you and here I find you two walking together. That's not to mention that I got a glimpse of that muscular boy's picture of you two before he took it back from the teacher."

"Muscular boy?" Garfield said in confusion. "Do you mean Victor?" Realization dawned on him, and he narrowed his eyes in anger. "What did he draw?"

Emily instantly noticed the anger in his voice and wisely decided to attempt to avoid the subject. "Oh, it was nothing. Never mind, Gar."

"What did Victor draw?" Garfield repeated rather sternly in a way that made it perfectly clear to Emily that she was not going to get out of answering his question.

"H-He drew both of you… together," she inhaled deeply, preparing herself for whatever reaction they would have, "kissing."

"What!" Garfield yelled, not caring about how many people were now staring at the trio as they walked down the hall. "Oh, Victor is so dead. This is too much. I told him to stop, and he does this! I'm going to kill him. I am so going to kill him."

"Go right ahead," Raven said monotonously. "I won't stop you, though after everything he's said today, I believe that he deserves much worse than a quick death. If I had my way… well, let's just say it's good for Victor that I don't."

Emily stood, staring open-mouthed at Raven. "Is she…." she began, quietly whispering to Garfield, "Is she serious?"

"I prefer not to think about it," Gar laughed. "I think I'd sleep a little easier at night if I didn't know exactly how serious Raven's revenge on those who are on her bad side would be. Though, I think I would enjoy the look on Victor's face the day after. That is to say, if he lives that long. Would he, Raven?"

"Yes," Raven snickered. "Barely."

The brown haired girl laughed lightly, thinking that it was all just one big joke. "She's funny, Gar. I can see why you like her," Raven glared at her, "in a completely friendly way of course. That was a really good joke, Raven."

"Yeah… a joke." Raven could tell this Emily was trying to at least be civil, but she could not get that glare she swore she had seen from her back in class out of her mind. It was obvious that underneath all this false kindness was a very spiteful girl. At least she did not try and hide her spitefulness like this girl, and why did she keep comparing herself to Emily like this? It was quite unlike Raven.

"Although I really hate to leave you alone, Gar," Emily smiled as she innocently overlooked Raven's presence, even though she had just talked with her a few seconds ago, "I really have to get to my own class. Unfortunately, my next one isn't the same as yours." She gave Garfield's arm a playful hug before turning and walking down the hall in the opposite direction. "Don't miss me too much, Gar," she called out giggling.

Garfield waved goodbye to Emily, causing Raven to yet again roll her eyes. She expected that the rest of their conversation would revolve around Emily now. Though she could tell that whatever… that… was, it was not the real Emily. She seemed to have left an impression in Garfield that probably would not be coming out any time soon. The last thing Raven wanted was to sit through mindless chatter about how nice Garfield thought Emily was or how he thought she was pretty.

Garfield sighed loudly. "It's about time she left," he said frowning. "That girl is kind of annoying."

Raven did a mental double take as her eyes widened in surprise. Needless to say, that was not what she was expecting. "What do you mean?" she asked, trying not to let her voice give away her utter shock. "You seemed to be enjoying yourselves."

"I was just being nice," the green haired teen answered effortlessly. "I don't like being rude to people, and I really don't want to get a bad reputation on my first day. Girls gossip, and if I was rude to her, I'd be pegged as mean by every girl in the school by the end of the day."

"That's a very stereotypical viewpoint," Raven said dryly with a slight hint of anger in her voice. Did he not realize that she was a girl, and that speaking negatively of girls in general would not go over too well with her?

"What's a radio got to do with this?" Garfield asked, completely dumbfounded, earning him a lingering, disbelieving stare from Raven. "What?" he asked defensively.

Raven simply sighed. "You're an idiot sometimes, Garfield."

The jovial teen grinned broadly. "Yeah, but I'm a lovable idiot, aren't I?"

The only answer he got was yet another eye roll from Raven. "Seriously, though," Raven started curiously, "why didn't you like that girl… Emily?" She said the name with a clear trace of hatred, though the reason behind it was still unknown to even her. "She seemed like your type to me."

"I don't believe in types, Raven," Garfield said with a smile. "If a person limits where they look, then they are only limiting their chances of finding the one person that would make them truly happy. At least, that's what my mom always says."

"Amazing," Raven said as jokingly as her personality allowed her voice to be. "It seems someone in your family has some actual intellect. Next, you'll tell me that your parents are scientists."

Garfield remained oddly silent for a while, and Raven feared that she had gone a little too far. However, her fears were mostly relieved when she saw Gar spoke up again.

"She reminds me of someone I used to know," Garfield continued on with his precious explanation, but this time, his voice had a lot less happiness in it. It was obviously a touchy subject, and a part of Raven felt guilty for bringing it up. "From what I can tell, Emily has very little in common with that someone, but… I don't know. I just sense something similar about them."

Raven nodded silently in understanding. She did not know who this someone was, but it was clear that asking about it would only bring up memories that Garfield was obviously not ready to relive just yet. Fortunately for her, they were nearing the numbered doorway to their next class. Maybe some education would help get Garfield's mind back on track, but that did not seem that feasible when it came to Garfield. Class usually forced him to the point of joking around or being annoyingly disruptive, not paying attention. Then again, was that so different than how he normally was?

As the duo entered their English classroom, Raven saw Victor grinning at Gar, but it soon faded as he came eye to eye with Raven. Obviously, he was hoping to have a class alone with Garfield so that he could make tease him without fear of Raven flinging a book at his head. Unfortunately for him, the memory of Victor accusing Raven of daydreaming about her boyfriend in reference to Gar was still fresh in her memory, and she had planned to do whatever it took to make the rest of Victor's day miserable. After all, it was the least he deserved.

Just like every other time today, Raven and Garfield seemed to be the last people to arrive for class, and their seating choices were rather limited. There was a single seat untaken near Victor and a group of preppy cheerleaders, which was probably why Victor chose to sit there in the first place. There was also a pair of seats near the back corner of the classroom, seemingly unclaimed by anyone else. Since Raven figured that choosing to sit with the unbearably preppy teens would undoubtedly lead to a rise in suicidal urges and tendencies, the back of the room seemed more than inviting to her. After all, staying out of sight was just natural for her, and anything else made her slightly uncomfortable.

Raven hated being the center of attention, no matter where she was. It was never comfortable feeling the eyes of everyone else in the room on her, and it was one of the main reasons why she wore her hood as much as possible, another being that she wanted to conceal her naturally purple hair. People, especially her own peers, had never shown too much acceptance of that. Anything unnatural was always labeled as negative and sometimes just plain evil by the world's standards, and it was hard for Raven to go anywhere without hearing the things people whispered about her, thinking that she was too far away to hear them. Just because she had a hood did not mean that she was deaf, but it usually meant that the people around her were ignorant of that fact.

As Raven slumped down in her desk, she heard the familiar sounds of someone sitting down next to her, and she did not even have to look up to see who it was at this point. Who else but Garfield would willingly sit down beside her? Nevertheless, the pale teen found herself taking solace in the fact that there was at least someone that would sit with her no matter what. She could not even hope to count all the many times she had yelled at the green haired boy or made fun of him, and yet he still came bouncing back every single time. At the beginning of school, she had started out alone and content to stay that way. Now, she could not seem to imagine having things any other way than they were now. She did not know exactly when it happened, but Garfield's antics had somehow grown on her, and it happened quicker than even she thought possible.

"I'm beginning to get the impression that I've got some sort of part human, part dog following me blindly around," Raven said simply as she dug through her backpack and took out her English books.

"Hmm. Maybe you're right," Garfield spoke playfully. "Are you sure you're not hiding some kind of food in your pockets, because there has to be something attracting me to your side."

Raven rolled her eyes at Gar, but then glared at Victor who was opening his mouth to answer for her. It was obvious that his statement would have been something like "It's because you like her" or something along those lines, and this was neither the time nor the place that Raven was willing to endure such accusations, especially when they would be said loud enough for the entire class to hear. Looking back at Garfield, Raven saw that he was still grinning moronically, obviously trying to hold in his laughter. She did not like it when her insults failed to hit their mark and she hated it when people took them and made them into some kind of joke, but she was glad that Garfield seemed to not take great offense to her words in a way.

"It's amazing how you can do that," Raven admitted without having a chance to think her words through carefully. "I've seen you angry before to the point of actually being tempted to physically harm someone, but you always seem to bounce back and somehow become care-free again. I can't fathom how you can do that after everything I am sure that Victor has put you through, and all the times I've mocked you."

Garfield gave her a confused look that obviously meant he was trying to figure out what the word "fathom" meant, but he shrugged it off and decided to take a guess. "It's just who I am. I like to look at the bright side of things, and try and see the good in everyone I meet, even if they taunt me. But, I haven't found any good in that Professor Chang, though I haven't wanted to look very hard." Garfield laughed softly at his own little joke, earning him a sigh of exasperation from Raven. However, before he could comment any further, the door slammed shut rather loudly, and all heads turned to see their English teacher for the first time.

"Cut the chatter!" A brown haired woman in her mid forties spoke angrily. She was glaring at the classroom so hard that many of the students wondered if she could even see them, but they knew better than to test their theory. Obviously, something had happened that made her day less than pleasant, and as they say, misery loves company.

"My daughter was late to class, AGAIN!" The teacher explained to the class while taking deep breaths in an attempt to calm herself down and be at least civil to her last class of the day. "This has got to be the eighth time this year, and her teacher thought it 'appropriate,'" she did finger quotes, but they were rushed and full of hatred, "that I be informed. I am her mother; of course I know she's been late a few times. It's like that woman thinks I am unable to handle parenting my own child."

The teacher sighed again. "This is all because she made an excuse, and she thought that it was supposed to explain everything and fix things. How can an excuse like 'I was talking to a boy' be good enough to get her out of trouble? I swear. That girl just needs to learn to think things through before she speaks sometimes. If any of you see Emily after school, tell her about this little rant of mine." Garfield's eyes widened. "Maybe that will embarrass her enough to knock some sense into her."

'_Something tells me that this isn't going to be my favorite class this year,'_ Garfield thought to himself in horror. Now, he was even more thankful that he was not rude to Emily when she met up with him in the hallway. One word about him to her mother, and he would not have any chance of passing this class, even if he did the work. Even so, it was obvious that Emily liked him. Garfield was not that big of a moron that he would over look that minute detail. It seemed to him that this situation was a clear lose-lose position for him. His fate was in the hands of some girl he just met, and he did not like that one bit.

"Now," the teacher continued. "On to more important matters. You two," she pointed at Richard and Kori, who were seated in the front row, "come here and grab a stack of books and begin passing them out to your classmates."

Kori wasted no time in jumping from her seat and eagerly lifting most of the books that had been stacked on the floor into her arms. Much to Richard's surprise, Kori had left him only a small stack of about five books for him to distribute, but when he bent down to lift them, it soon became abundantly clear that these books were a lot heavier than their small size made them seem. Richard guessed that this particular novel, _Great Expectations_, had to be about six hundred pages long, and judging by the weight of the five he held in his arms, he guessed that he could have only hoped to carry about fifteen of these comfortably. Somehow, Kori was carrying twenty.

"As I have been telling the rest of the class for the past week, though I know this is news to some of you who just got here, we will begin reading our first of four required novels today. Let me be the first to warn you straight up that the novels that were hand picked for this course are and have always been some of the worst books ever written. In my opinion, _Great Expectations _is the worst and most boring book known to mankind. This is the only book that I will encourage you to go out and purchase the prewritten summaries that are provided for the general public in most book stores. However, if I catch you using those for any other book I assign, I will fail you. I am only allowing it this time because I really dislike the choice the school board made of forcing us to make you read this, and if I had my way, every copy of this book in the world should be burned."

"I disagree," Raven interrupted as she turned the book over and eying it closely as if pondering something. "Obviously, someone felt strongly enough about this story that they were compelled to write it. Another person working for an agency felt strongly enough about this story that they were compelled to publish it. Another person acting as a member of a group felt strongly enough about this story that they convinced their entire group to _force_ us to read it. This book, like every other, has a history that deserves respect, whether it be poorly written or not."

The brown haired teacher smiled warmly at Raven. She liked Raven's attitude towards books, and it would help her go far in this class. However, she knew what she was talking about when it came to this book. She had been forced to teach it her entire English career. She loathed it, and she was more than confident that this purple haired student would grow to loath it too. "Child," the teacher spoke kindly, "that is your opinion and you are more than welcome to have one, but for no reason will I tolerate interruptions in my class again. This is your first day, so I will let it slide. However, I advise you not to dare speak out of turn again, or I will be forced to take action, which is something I do not enjoy doing."

The teacher forced one final smile and turned her head from Raven to return to addressing her class, but as soon as she could not see what the pale teen was doing in the corner of the room, Raven glared at her. Raven had thought that this would have been her favorite class, and any teacher that respected the written arts would be her favorite teacher, but it was obvious to her that this would no longer be the case. In her opinion, no book deserves to be shunned from society when there were still people around that respected or enjoyed its contents. However, she was not in a position to do anything about it. She merely hoped that this book would be the last her teacher blatantly insulted.

"Like I was saying," the English teacher continued, "I know that this book is around five hundred pages long, but I am only going to give you two weeks to read it. Normally, I would give you a week to read any novel that the school board assigns, but I find this one particularly difficult to read, so I thought it best to give you a little extra time. Now, I know what you are all thinking, or most of you at least. Five hundred pages is unreasonable. What is that old hag thinking? Well, think of it this way, it is five hundred pages in the whole, but it is approximately thirty-six pages a day which is one and a half pages an hour if I assume that you get absolutely no sleep anytime in the next two weeks. I think that you will all agree that thirty-six pages is nowhere unreasonable or unthinkable to do in one day."

None of the students looked all too convinced, and it was only Raven who was not looking at her book in utter disgust. Again, the teacher had to admire her attitude, and she knew that Raven would probably be her best student of the year.

"Now, I want you all to go home and start reading this book tonight," the brown haired woman spoke as she placed her copy of the book back on her desk as far away from her as possible. After teaching the book for over twelve years straight, she no longer wanted to even look at it a second longer than she had to. "I have the book on tape that I will play for you all from time to time in the next few weeks, but you will only be able to follow along and make any sense at all from the tape if you follow my thirty-six pages a day example. I'll be discussing this book on the assumption that you do follow that advice. However, I will not spend every day in the next two weeks teaching this book. Part of this assignment is teaching you responsibility. You will have to force yourself to keep up with this book on your own."

A low groan emanated from the classroom as the fact sunk in that they were actually going to have to consistently read this book and not just slack off like everyone was silently hoping that they could do. It was obvious to everyone by then that the next two weeks of this class would be far from pleasant.

"Today, though," the teacher smiled, due to the fact that she did not have to teach the book today, "we will be reading over a few short stories written during or about the time period G_reat Expectations_ is set in. Some of you have no idea what life was like before we were blessed with all of these fancy electronics and music players so small that you could probably swallow, even though they can hold more songs than a person could possibly accumulate in their lifetime. Others have grown up wasting their life away playing those mindless video games."

Garfield's head fell slightly. It was like the teacher was talking directly to him. He hated that feeling.

"This book," she continued on, unaware of Garfield's guilty expression, "and these stories were designed to reflect that specific time period, and reading them now will take you back then and give you a clear view of how life was like back then. Again, some of you have no idea that people could actually live without all of these electronics, and part of the reason that these stories are required material is to teach students that they are living a blessed lifestyle."

The brown haired woman picked up a rather large book from her desk and held it up in front of the class. "Now then. Everyone, take you're your English Literature textbooks and open up to page eighty-four. Mark," she pointed to one of the boys seated on the front row, "start us off by reading the first few paragraphs and then call on someone else to take over for you. Everyone else, do the same thing if you are called upon." And so, they read, and Garfield daydreamed about virtual monkeys and the evil salamander of doom.

_llllllllllllllllllll_

For some reason, things weren't going exactly as April imagined that they would. Her parents had finally came back to her from the bathroom, but they seemed not to be the same people they were when they left. They were angrier, at least her mother was. April's father had not been angry or mean at all like her mother was, but he had left a while ago, leaving only April's mother to look after her and it seemed that she was doing a poor job of it. Maria was almost choking her as they made their way towards their parked car. She had started crying long ago, but Maria would not listen.

It was like her mother did not even know that April was her daughter, but that just did not make any sense to the once little girl. After all, everything was fine before her mother and father left for the bathroom. The only thing that happened while they were gone was that she talked to some old guy with a funny accent, and then she felt weird, like everything around her was smaller. But given her child-like mentality, April just could not put two and two together to figure out that was the reason that all of this was happening now.

"Mommy," April sobbed again in another futile attempt to plead her case, "you are hurting me. Stop it, please. Where is Daddy?"

"Stop calling me that," Maria spat angrily. "I don't know who you are, but you know good and well that we are not your parents, and that you've done something with our daughter. Where did you take her? Why did you do it? Where is she?"

"I am right here, Mommy," April sobbed again. "I don't want to play this game anymore."

"A game!" Maria almost screamed as they finally managed to make it to their car. "You think my missing daughter and how badly I want her back is just a game! You are sick."

April put a hand on her forehead. "I don't feel sick, and I don't think I have a temperature. Why do you think I am sick?"

Maria growled as she shoved April roughly onto the side of the car and held her there with one hand. She used her other to fumble through her purse. "Grr," she growled again. "Joshua has the keys. Figures."

Just then, Maria heard footsteps fast approaching her position. Fearing that hers and the woman's position, whom she still had forced against her car, would look less than innocent, Maria pulled April away from the car and locked one of her arms in one of the girl's while putting on a fake smile. Anyone that passed by would think that they were just two friends out for a night stroll together, though the fact that April was still crying did nothing to emphasize that fact. Fortunately for Maria, as she watched the figure come closer and closer to them, she recognized the familiar outline of her husband, Joshua.

"Sorry," Joshua quickly apologized as he tried desperately to catch his breath. "I couldn't find any trace of April, and I got caught up with some cop while I was running back. It took me a while to convince him that I was just jogging through the park at night for no real reason at all."

Maria glowered at her husband. "You met a cop?"

"Yeah," Joshua replied, thinking nothing of it at all.

"And you left him in the park?" The increasingly frustrated woman asked again.

"Yes," Joshua sighed in frustration. "What's the problem?"

"You do realize that we are taking this… woman," Maria hissed at the girl, whose arm she now clutched as tightly as she could, "to the police station, right?"

"Yeah," he said matter-of-factly. "That's why I was running so fast back here because I had the keys, and you would not have been able to get in the car without me. I had to get rid of that cop… because… I…" Realization dawned on him and his palm found its way to his forehead. "I… I'm an idiot."

"You know," Maria forced a smile to her face, though absolutely no part of her felt like smiling, "this has to be the first time today that I agree with you, ya know? I don't know what your problem is today, but it has been just one mistake after another with you."

"Name one thing that I've screwed up on today," Joshua demanded defensively.

"Hey, Maria," the angry woman mimicked her husband's voice, "you don't worry about breakfast today. I'll cook it. I used to be a gourmet chef who specialized in burnt eggs and toast with milk that was passed the expiration date."

Joshua remained silent for a second before regaining his composure. "Okay, that's one, but I don't know why we kept milk in the fridge if it was that close to the expiration da-"

"Hey, Maria," she started up again, ignoring her husband's pitiful attempt at an explanation, "how about you cook a four course meal for tonight in celebration of my new promotion so I can completely forget about the meal and not come home until it is nice and cold. Then, I can complain about the food being not warm enough."

"Honey," Joshua tried to explain. "I was just mad because my boss gave the promotion he promised me to his incompetent son. It was misplaced aggression, and I'm sor-"

"Hey, Maria," she yelled now causing her husband to sigh in defeat. "Don't go to the bathroom by yourself. I'm worried about what might happen to you in the twenty feet it would take to get there, but I am perfectly okay with leaving our daughter alone so she can get picked up by some psychotic woman who takes pleasure in acting like the people she kidnaps!"

Joshua waited a few minutes until Maria's hard breathing clamed down. "I still think that it is possible that she might have been trans-"

"No!" Maria cut him off.

"Why not?" he asked hurriedly. "Stranger things have happened. Just look at the time we all turned British, or the time the city was transformed into one big badly drawn cartoon. I mean, look at where we live. Our great protectors are just a group of children! Why couldn't this have happened?"

"Mommy, Daddy," April spoke up in a fearful voice, "please don't fight. What did I do to make you fight with each other? I'll change. I promise. Just don't fight."

Maria sighed in frustration before waving her free hand at the car. "Just open the doors so we can take her to the police."

Deciding that it was best for him to just do what he was told for now, Joshua took out his keychain and quickly found the electronic switch to unlock the doors. Being the gentleman that he thought it wise to be with his wife in the current state that she was in, he opened up the back door and helped Maria put who she considered to be an April imposter in the back seat of the car. Maria got in the back seat with her, making the excuse that she had to make sure that she did not try to run away or attack them with their backs turned.

Joshua did not believe that the stranger, though he was convinced that she was in fact no stranger at all, was even capable of any form of violence, but he was in little position to make Maria see things his way. Getting into his side of the car without saying a word, Joshua reluctantly started up the engine and pulled out of the parking lot. He did not like the fact that they were taking the woman to the police. What if she was really their daughter and something just happened to her to make her look that way? What if the police did not agree with his theory and arrested her and threw her in jail? He did not even want to think about what kind of place a jail cell was for a little girl in a woman's body. I could scar her for life, but he could do nothing about it now. All he could do was hope that everything would turn out right.

Occasionally, April would start to ask random questions like the ones she used to ask when she was a little girl. The car was soon filled with the sounds of "Are we there yet" and "Where are we going" or the occasional "What's this button do?" Maria was always quick to shut April up, having at one point being forced to resort to cupping her hand over April's entire mouth to get a moment's silence. However, that option was quickly eliminated when she felt the girl's rough, wet tongue licking her palm in an attempt to gross her mother's hand off of her face. It was amazing how such a simple action could be so effective. Maria never tried that again, and Joshua was left to his silent thanks that this trip was only going to be a short one.

The police station was not far from the park. In fact, it would not have taken Joshua and Maria that long to walk there on their own, but since they had gained a hostage of sorts, it was an unspoken decision that it would be much easier and safer for them to drive the short distance than to walk. It took them less than five minutes to make it to the station, but it had still been worth the drive in Joshua's opinion. Due to the familiar questions he received from their prisoner, he was more convinced now than ever that she was in fact their daughter. Something had to have happened to her while they were away from her, but he could not put a finger on exactly what it could have been.

When they arrived at the police station, all three of them got out of the car, but only two did it out of their own free will. April did not know what this place was that her family had taken her, but she obviously knew that she did not like it at all. There was just something ominous about it that scared her, and she would not go in there if she could help it. She put of a good fight by clinging onto her seat, but she was eventually dragged out of the car by her own hair. Maria felt no remorse for doing so. She was beginning to wonder just what kind of person this was that she was dealing with, but she was still convinced that the woman knew something about her daughter and she needed to know what. At this point, she was willing to do anything it took to get the April that she knew and loved back.

"Do you really have to be that rough with her?" Joshua asked hesitantly as he watched his wife manhandle what could very well have been their daughter. "I mean, whatever you believe she did, she's still a person. Treating her like dirt isn't going to get you April back, and if we find out that she's telling the truth and she really is our daughter, you're going to feel like less than dirt."

Maria glared at her husband. She was in a frantic state by now, like any caring mother would be. Their daughter was missing, and her husband was spouting nonsense that the person who most likely took their daughter was an older version of their daughter. It just did not make any sense, and she refused to believe a word of it. "Don't ever bring that up again!" Maria commanded angrily. "When we get in there, I don't want you to say anything. They'll just think we're crazy if we give them that kind of story. If you make even a sound, I swear to God I'll make the rest of your life miserable."

How was anyone supposed to reply to that without making Maria even more furious than she already was? Joshua thought he was right, but was it worth getting on his wife's permanent bad side to express his opinion? What if he did and it turned out that he was wrong? Everything would have been for naught, and he would be subject to a life of the worst kinds of torture Maria could concoct in her mind. But, what if he was right, and he chose to say nothing? He had a lot of thinking to do and very little time to do it. Reluctantly, he rushed in front of his wife and could be kidnapper to open the door for them. Maria smiled triumphantly at him and forced the woman in her clutched through the door.

As soon as they were through the door, it seemed like all eyes were on them. None of the police officers knew exactly what to think as they watched a strange, psychotic looking woman force another teary-eyed one through the door. Some thought that it was a hostage situation and instantly egged the mother as the bad guy, but fortunately, they had enough sense to keep their guns in their holsters for the moment. An officer that was slightly younger than the others there jogged up hurriedly towards the trio and asked the question that everyone in the room was waiting for the answer.

"What's going on here?" The officer asked.

It was like a floodgate being opened. Everything just poured out of Maria. How she and her husband had stupidly left their daughter alone while they went to the bathroom. How she had returned to find Joshua in what looked like a loving embrace with the woman she now held. How her daughter was mysteriously missing. How she accused the woman and dragged her here. She told them everything, and with all that information came a flood of emotions she did not realize she was holding in. By the end of it all, she was on the verge of tears, and her grip on April was lost.

Hearing her mother's sobs, April swiftly spun around and enveloped Maria in a warm hug. "Don't cry, Mommy," she said soothingly as she mimicked how her parents had once comforted her by patting Maria on the back gently. "I'm not lost. I'm right here. Don't cry."

The officer raised an eyebrow at what was unfolding before him and turned to who appeared to be the father. "Did she just call her Mommy?"

"Uh…" Joshua began. "Yeah. Yeah, she did."

"I see…." the officer did not look at Joshua directly in the face. Instead, it looked as if he was not looking at anything at all, but merely thinking quite hard about something. "Hold on a second please," he said suddenly while rushing towards one of the back rooms. "Don't go anywhere," he yelled back, leaving Joshua rather confused.

A few minutes later, the officer came back carrying a large folder with a large T on the front of it. "Okay," the officer explained as he rummaged through the stack, "you know about the Titans, right?"

"What does that have to do with anything?" Maria asked through her sobs as she tried to shove April off of her.

"Well," the officer continued, "they give us information on some of the known criminals that pop up in the city from time to time. If we ever find a case that matches the style or personality of one of these villains, we're supposed to contact them immediately. What I saw a moment ago reminded me of a file I read in here a while ago back in training. Ah!" He pulled out a file from the folder and flipped it open. "Here it is."

The officer began skimming through the file, mumbling silently as he read, which got him a strange look from Joshua and Maria. They thought he had mentioned something about a strange obsession with Britain, and that reminded them of that time where the entire city and the people in it had somehow been transformed into a very poor representation of a British city and its denizens. Why did the person that did that matter at all in this situation?

"Alright," the officer spoke up, trying to regain the attention of the two dazed looking people before him. "Now, am I right in assuming that your daughter was younger than this woman here?"

"Yeah," Joshua answered, not liking where this was going. Just maybe, he was right all along. "She was just a little girl."

"Good," the officer said. "Well, that's bad, but… well… whatever. Does this woman look anything at all like your daughter did the last time you saw here?"

"They both look similar," Joshua explained. "I can see it in her face."

"How about their clothes?"

"They're exactly the same, just a little bigger."

"Okay," the officer smiled. "The last thing I need to know is if she's been acting like your daughter the entire time. Was there ever a time where she made you think that she was faking it or an imposter?"

"No," Maria answered silently, albeit reluctantly as the questions the young officer asked them were starting to click in her mind. It was becoming more and more evident that it was highly possible that she had been wrong all along. "She's never acted like anything but April, even when I yelled at her."

"Yes," the officer almost yelled triumphantly. "We got him." He handed the file to Joshua and turned towards the other officers. "Hey Carl, we're going to need a DNA test on the girl and the father just to make sure. Larry, I need you to get connected with the Titans and alert them that we have a possible sighting of Mad Mod at the park, and tell the mother's story to them. Let them know that we'll have confirmation for them when we get the DNA test results back in. Johnson, get the chief. He'll want to know about this."

Some of the other older officers felt like he had no authority to boss them around like he was doing, but they had read the same file he had and knew the dangers that the city could face at the hands of Mad Mod. There was no time to lose, and it was like the entire station went to work all at once.

"Now," the young officer turned back to Joshua, "if you read through that file, you'll notice that the Titans have stated that Mad Mod has been known to use youth siphoning technology. Up until now, Mod has only used it once on the Titans' leader, and it drained all of his youth, but I've always speculated that it was never limited to just that. I think your daughter is the first semi-siphoned case we've seen, but I don't think she'll be the last if Mod is truly back in the city."

That was it, the proof that what Joshua had been saying had at least some merit after all. However, even though he had suspected it, it still came as a shock to him. The idea that some madman had found a way to suck out the youth of another human being was just frightening, and knowing that it had happened to his own daughter was more than terrifying. He did not want to believe it, but the proof was right in front of him, hugging his own wife. Older or not, April was his daughter.

"He... He stole April's youth?" Maria stuttered in disbelief.

April looked at her mother in confusion. "Mommy, what's 'youth'?"

"I'll explain later, sweetie," Maria answered instinctively before it hit her. Sweetie? Was that really what she was to her now? A few minutes ago, she could have been accused of trying to break her own daughter's arms off. And she… she had pulled her by her hair. How could she have been so cruel to any human being, especially her own daughter? She should have recognized her before. She saw it now though, plain as day. It was in her eyes, those same eyes April always used to look up at her with. This woman… April… She was her daughter all along. A wave of happiness overpowered her, and she could not help but hug April warmly in hopes that it would somehow be enough to gain her daughter's forgiveness.

"Yes," the officer answered. "I am afraid so, but it obviously was not all of it. The good news is that once Mod is captured, the Titans will be able to tell us how to reverse the process that left your daughter like she is now, since they did it to get their leader back to normal. All I need you three to do now is to –"

"Hey, Johnny!" Larry, an elderly police officer yelled as he put down the phone he was using to contact the Titans on their private line. "We might have a problem here." With a shaking hand, Larry pressed a button on his phone to activate the speaker phone mode. What played was something that none of them had expected.

"Ello all you naughty little law enforcing duckies," the clearly British voice spoke laughingly back at them, "I am ecstatic to say that you all have got the wrong number. You undoubtedly were looking for your little Titans to come and save you and spread the meaning of the colures red, white, and blue all over your little village ere. I am happy to say that the Titans are now in their new permanent residences, may they rest in peace, and being the kind chaps that they were, they left me all of their worldly possessions. Ain't that nice of 'em, you say. Well, they did not really have a choice, but that's not the point now, is it? This is Mody's tower now, mates, and I'm ere to stay."


	12. Detention

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Teen Titans, unfortunately. Any views or opinions expressed in this fan fiction are strictly those of the author, me. The latter statement is probably just a formality, unless I somehow work my love of all things Canadian **(GO CANADA)** into this fan fiction.

* * *

**Chapter 11: Detention**

The Jump City Police Station was in utter disarray as the prerecorded message ended and started to repeat itself over the phone's speakers. It was like everything had just stopped. No one was moving, and unless a person listened closely enough, they would have sworn that none of the people in the station was even breathing. Except for the continuous recording playing in the background, there was nothing but complete silence surrounding them. But of course, silence was meant to be broken.

"Mommy," April spoke up as softly as she could, but because she was not used to how the transformation made her voice sound, it ended up being quite louder than she meant it to be and it seemed that the entire police station could not help but listen in on what she was saying. "That voice is the man that made the big flash with his stick thingy. Why did the police call his house?"

Maria was in too much shock to answer her daughter. If the recording was true, then Mad Mod was inside Titan's Tower, but that could only mean that the Titans were gone. Mod had said something about wishing that they would rest in peace, and her eyes widened as she comprehended the possible meaning of that statement. As she looked around the room, she saw clearly that most of the rest of the inhabitance of the station were coming to the same conclusion she was. By the look of their pale faces and fear filled eyes, it seemed that most everyone now thought that the Titans were dead.

Being the first to have April's words click in his mind and snap him out of his trance, Johnny, the youngest police officer, snapped back to attention and rushed towards the confused looking woman. He had spent so much time focusing on her parents that he completely forgot that April was a first hand eye witness to what Mad Mod did to her, though he could not see the immediate use of anything April could possibly tell him. There still might be something relevant in her memories.

"Uh," Johnny addressed April hesitantly, not knowing her real name. "Hey… you. Can you tell me exactly what happened between you and Mad Mod before you became like this?" he motioned to her new body. Unfortunately, April gave him a confused look.

"Who is Mod," April asked curiously as she continued to hold onto her mother tightly, "and why is he angry?"

The young police officer sighed in frustration. "Tell me about the man who has the same voice that you just heard. What did he look like before you changed? What did he look like after? Did he say why he was doing all of this?"

"Oh," April said in realization, now knowing exactly what the officer meant. "He had grey hair and he looked really old, then he had light red hair and he looked kinda old. He made a big flash when I said I wanted to be one of the big girls, and then my swing broke and I started crying and then Daddy found me and Mommy was really mad for some reason and then-"

"Okay," Johnny interrupted quickly, wanting to stop April before it was too late. "That'll be it for now. Thanks," before he knew what he was doing, he found himself ruffling the girl's hair even though she was obviously physically far too old for that sort of thing, but it did not seem that the girl minded. She merely smiled pleasantly at the officer as if she was taking pride in being able to do a good job.

"What does this all mean?" Joshua managed to blurt out, breaking himself away from his shocked state. Thousands of possibilities were running through his mind, and he did not like any of them. The last time the Titans had been defeated, the city had been practically destroyed and everyone was evacuated. He lost his home that time, and it took a lot of faith to even think of coming back. He did not think that he could live through the same thing again and still have enough faith to come back if Mad Mod was ever defeated. It was a lot to ask from a person to show blind faith that everything was going to be alright when the person knew good and well that there was always a chance that it would not be. He just hoped that there was a silver lining in this somewhere.

"I don't exactly know," Johnny admitted guiltily. "I mean, we've all gotten pretty used to relying on the Titans to save us all when things get too rough. Honestly, I'm not sure if we stand a chance against a real villain. If the Titans are really gone, then we might be in for a rough fight."

"That's assuming that the Titans actually are gone," a rough voice spoke from the back doorway. All heads turned quickly to see the chief standing in the doorway being led by Johnson into the room. "I heard the recording from the hallway," the chief explained as he walked up towards Johnny and the worried family. Without asking, he snatched Mad Mod's file away from Joshua and quickly flipped through a few pages.

"You guys are supposed to be better than this," the chief grumbled as he read through the case file. "One message from a villain, and I find you all cowering under your desks. It's pathetic."

"Yeah, Chief," Johnson spoke from behind him with a slightly trembling voice, "but Mad Mod said-"

"Mad Mod is a criminal!" The chief yelled angrily at the fear stricken officer. "Criminals lie to get what they want. That's the first thing you should have learned in basic. I can't believe you guys are actually buying in to that rubbish." The chief glared at Larry, who was still transfixed on the phone emitting Mod's message. "Turn that filth off!" He yelled again, breaking Larry out of his trance and forcing him to dive for the off button. "I won't have it playing in my station, and I will not have it corrupting the minds of my officers. Johnson," he spoke loudly, startling the fearful officer, "go get me some coffee. I left my cup back in my office."

"Yes sir!" Johnson said orderly before swiftly spinning around and running to the nearby coffee pot.

"Now," the chief continued as he handed Mad Mod's case file to Johnny, "I understand that this girl ere is Mod's first victim," he said while pointing to the cowering April, and Maria and Joshua nodded quickly.

There was something about this new man that had appeared that frightened April, but she did not know what it was. Sure, he had yelled a lot when he came into the room, but none of it was directed at her. Now that he was talking to her parents, he seemed perfectly calm and even a little bit nice. However, she was still scared of him, and the closer he came to her, the tighter she held onto her mother for comfort.

"Good," the chief responded as he turned his attention towards April and forced a smile to his face. "Don't you worry your pretty little head missy," he spoke as nicely as he could force his voice to seem. "We're going to get the bad man that did this to you and force him to change you back, alright? There' no need to be afraid. No one is going to harm you anymore now that we're all on the same page. By the way, what's your name, and where do you go to school?"

Timidly, April answered his. "My name is April, and I go to school at Jump City Elementary."

"Good girl," He smiled as he patted April on the head a few times before looking back at her parents.

"I think it would be best if you three went home as quickly as possible," the chief spoke softly to Joshua and Maria, who nodded in understanding even though they preferred to stay here where they thought it was at least somewhat safe. "I'll give you an escort to wherever you live, and I'll have a few officers stationed around there in secret to watch over you, just in case."

For some reason, the chief's reassurances did not make Joshua or Maria feel any better. The fact that they might need someone there to protect them made them even more scared than before.

Johnson came back with a cup of coffee and gave it to the chief, who paused and took a sip before continuing on. "I also think it would be best if you take her out of school until this whole thing is sorted out. Don't worry about her missing too much school. I'll call them and take care of everything for you." He smiled at them, and it took every ounce of willpower the two parents had to smile gratefully back. "Oh, and just one more thing. Everything that you've heard in here is confidential, so you cannot under any circumstances repeat anything to anyone you know. The last thing we want is city wide panic because someone let loose that the Titans might be missing."

"Johnny," the chief turned towards the young officer who immediately snapped to attention. "Calm down," the chief almost laughed. "This isn't the academy anymore, son. Now, I want you to head up the escort and the security team for these good people, since you seem to be the one they most easily communicate with. Go and gather up a few of our boys in the back and take them with you. I want at least two officers watching their house or apartment or wherever they live at all times, and don't let anyone see you escort them directly to their house. I know this is your first serious escort, but just keep what I told you in mind and you'll be fine. We do not want it too obvious that there is something we want to protect within their car, got it?"

"Y-Yes sir," Johnny stuttered slightly. His demeanor had completely changed as soon as the chief had walked into the door. Before, he had seemed completely confident and independent. Now, it looked like he was constantly afraid that he was going to do something stupid and get judged because of it. He liked his job, and he always feared the possibility of being fired for looking incompetent around a superior officer. "I-I'll get right on that, Chief." With that, Johnny turned around and rushed out of the room as quickly as possible.

The chief laughed a little at his reaction. "Don't worry about him," he said, trying to sound reassuring. "He just gets a little nervous when someone whose opinion matters is in the room. The fact that I could fire him at any time doesn't help calm his nerves either, but he's a good cop, all in all. He'll be fine when he gets out of my sight. He always has. Now, if you'll both be kind enough to excuse me, I have a lot of work to do thanks to Mad Mod. I don't think he's killed the Titans, though the fact that he's seemingly taken over their tower doesn't bode well with me, but you three should not think any more of it. We'll sort this out. Just keep living like nothing is wrong, and everything will turn out fine." He started to walk away before calling back to them. "You three can wait there for Johnny. He won't be much longer."

As if on cue, Johnny appeared in the back doorway, bringing around three other officers with him. They all seemed pretty disgruntled, as if something important they were doing had just been interrupted, but the clearly visible crumbs of a glazed doughnut on some of the officers' uniforms told otherwise. Nevertheless, Johnny quickly led them over to the family of three and ushered all of them out of the door towards their respective vehicles. With any luck, Johnny hoped that his first real assignment would go smoothly.

_llllllllllllllllllll_

"I'm free!" Garfield practically yelled, not caring about the strange looks anyone else was giving him as he sprinted to his locker in pure and utter glee. The final bell of the school day had rung, signaling, as Garfield has so elegantly put it, that the students the school had once imprisoned were now free. In his mind, Garfield was already planning out the rest of his day as to maximize his opportunities for gaming and entertaining.

First, he had to feed his pets, because his parents were still probably off at work. They usually stayed out pretty late because of that, and Garfield had to take care of all of their animals alone. It was pretty hard work at times, especially when it seemed like every different species in the world was scratching at his door wanting to be fed or let out or even bathed at times. He never thought he would see the say when a cat practically begged to be bathed, but his cat was never like all the other cats in the neighborhood, or maybe it was because he forgot to bathe him for over eight months that time.

However, after all that, it was gaming time, Garfield's favorite time of the day. He had become addicted to the sense of accomplishment he got whenever he completed something he had never thought possible in one of his many games, and it was a feeling yet to be rivaled during his time on Earth. Though he had not spent much time doing anything but playing games throughout his life, he was sure he was not missing much. Then, there was the fact that Raven had made him promise not to bring his pocket gamestation to school anymore, which meant that he would not be able to play it during class from now on. It was hard for him to imagine school without video games, and he did not like the things his mind came up with, like thinking the teachers were going to turn him into a mindless zombie through countless boring lectures, and Raven had just unknowingly taken away his only defense. If only she knew the truth.

With a moronic grin on his face, Garfield stopped for the last time that day in front of his locker to put away his things. He gave the thick book he was assigned back in English class a hateful glare before throwing it into the back of the locker. Without even reading a word of it, he knew he hated that book. It was too thick and the print was too tiny, and would it have killed the authors to put in a picture or two here and there? It really would help some of the book's less dedicated readers, namely Garfield. But, he did not have to worry about the book until the test, which was like two whole weeks away. If Garfield was about to learn anything in school, it was how to procrastinate, at least as long as no one else was there that would actually make him do stuff.

Sighing in relief, Garfield closed his locker just in time to see Victor opening his. "Hey, Victor!" Garfield grinned widely to his friend. "I bet you can't wait to get home and away from school now, huh?"

"I wish," Victor sighed regretfully as he unloaded the contents of his backpack into his locker. "I don't get the short seven hour school days you do, Gar."

Garfield's jaw dropped. "Short!"

"I have to go spend the next four hours trying out for all the athletic teams they've got here, and things will only get worse from there if I make all of those. I might be looking at twelve hour school days after today at least. I don't even like swimming and tennis, but I already told you that my parents want me to go for everything that they have here. I hate it."

"Then, why don't you just not do those?" Garfield asked in confusion. "I mean, what's the point in doing something if you're not gunna enjoy doing it?"

Victor eyed him suspiciously for a second. "You don't usually study much, do you?"

"What's that got to do with anything?" The green haired teen asked defensively.

"Nothing," Victor sighed. "Just… never mind. My parents would kill me if I did not at least try to make those teams. They even went through a phase where they wanted me to learn how to play chess and get really good at it. Of course, that died out pretty fast after the first eighteen losses against my dad, and that was after they spent hundreds of dollars on chess lessons. They were pretty furious at me for a month after that. I really don't want to go through all that again, man. It's just not worth it."

"But," Gar began hesitantly, "Vic-"

"Just drop it, okay?" Victor sighed again as he walked away from his friend. "With any luck, I just won't make any of the teams, and at least I'll be able to say to my parents that I tried."

Garfield tried to run after him, but he soon found himself being jerked roughly backwards by some unknown force. There was one thing for certain, though. That force was quite painful. "Hey," Garfield yelled out in panic. "Let me go."

"You forgot, didn't you?" A dry, familiar voice rang out from behind him.

"Ugh," Gar grunted as he felt the collar of his shirt start to choke him slightly. "Raven… what the… what are you talking about? Stop it. You're… choking me."

Raven did not relent, and Garfield got the feeling that she was somewhat enjoying this. "We have detention today, and you have detention for the rest of the week, remember?"

Garfield's eyes widened as the realization dawned on him. Raven was not kidding. He had detention, which meant that he had – "No! Nooo!" Garfield yelled as Raven dragged him down the hallway towards the cafeteria. "Not another hour of school. I was free! I was freeee! Nooo!"

"Shut up!" Raven spat angrily back at her immature companion. "This isn't that bad. Just act your age for once and this will be over quick. It will go by faster if you stop making a fool of yourself." However, no matter how hard she tried, Garfield's complaints only grew louder, but to her relief, less child-like.

_llllllllllllllllllll_

The cafeteria seemed oddly different after school. It was like it was no longer the joy filled room it was before, but a bleak, sorrowful place in time. It felt horrible just to be in the room for their detention, but it was a feeling that they had to endure, no matter how bad Garfield made it seem with his mentions of how he was now sure all of his pets were going to starve. Raven was sure that half of the animals he mentioned were not intended to be domesticated, but she was not about to bring that up.

Ever since they arrived in the cafeteria, Raven had thoughtlessly picked a random seat and sat down. She had never had detention before, but she generally saw it as some sort of punishment for bad students, and that the teachers would probably make them stay completely silent and unmoving for an hour or so. As long as it was something like that, she was quite happy with it. Sometimes, it seemed that silence was her natural state, and Raven had no problem leaving it like that. Besides, this might give her the opportunity she had been looking for ever since she got to school, a chance to actually read more than one page of her book.

Garfield, on the other hand, saw Raven take out her book and had learned enough about her throughout the day to know that it was best for him to just leave her alone for now. Though she had yet to physically assault someone for interrupting her reading, Garfield suspected that she was not far from that resolution, and he did not want to tempt fate, at least not while he seemed to have enough sense to think before he acted, which was not that often in reality. Thus, Gar chose to find his seat a few tables behind Raven. Then, there was silence, and Garfield realized just how big a mistake he had made.

Off in the distance, Garfield and Raven could hear the footsteps of their fellow students slowly dying out as they exited the school, and with each passing moment, the cafeteria became quieter and quieter until neither could hear anything except their own breathing. It was perfect silence, and Garfield hated it. Just then, the cafeteria doors opened suddenly, revealing a very familiar face. It was the slightly overweight, brown haired man who had been the teacher in their Algebra class.

"What?" the teacher said in surprise, "is it only you two today?"

"It would seem that way," Raven answered without looking up from her book.

"Well, that's just retarded," the teacher sighed, causing Raven and Garfield to look at him curiously. "You two were pretty well behaved when I had you. Who gave you the detention?"

"Professor Chang," Garfield growled furiously as he unknowingly clenched his fist in anger.

"Ah," the teacher smiled. "That explains that. Well, I'm supposed to sit here and watch you two for an hour to make sure you stay quiet and bored for an hour, but honestly, I have better things to do right now. So, I'll tell you what, I'll go on about my business and leave you two here to do basically whatever you feel like. I'll come back in an hour to let you out, and we can all go on about our business. Sound good?"

Garfield grinned moronically at this, while Raven just simply nodded and returned her eyes to her book. Maybe this would not be so bad after all.

"Just one thing, okay?" the teacher said before he left. "Don't be too loud or end up destroying parts of the cafeteria here. You'll just end up getting me into trouble, and that is something that I can assure you that you do not want to do." With that, he exited the cafeteria, leaving the two teens alone to their own designs.

Garfield's mind was running in circles about the possibilities of everything he could do without supervision. He was alone in a very large, empty room except for the numerous tables and chairs, and he had free reign to do anything he felt like doing. There was just one problem: Raven was there, reading, and that severely limited his options. He was tempted to run around the cafeteria like an idiot to release some excess energy, but the down side of that was that he would have to run around like an idiot… in front of a Raven who was trying to concentrate on her book. That could lead to very painful results.

Then again, he could always just take a nap. It was the quietest solution he could think of, and there was no way he could incur the wrath of Raven while he was asleep… That is, unless you count the fact that he had been told countless times that he snored while he slept, quite loudly at that. So, a nap was out of the question, but that still left him back on page one of his predicament. What could he do to pass the time that would not bother Raven to the point where she would kill him? Thanks to his promise to Raven, he was not allowed to play his pocket gamestation in school anymore, so what did that leave him?

A sly grin crept over the green haired teen's face as a thought popped into his mind. It was true that he had promised Raven that he would not bring his games to school anymore, but there was nothing in that promise that stated that he could not play games during school. Oh, it was implied, but Raven overlooked the fact that Garfield already had his pocket gamestation here with him. Technically, he would not be breaking his promise if he played it now. He just had to make sure Raven did not see or hear him while he did it. The consequences of that would be disastrous, but Garfield believed that is why God invented volume control. All he had to do was turn the volume off, and he would be home free. Yes, this would be the easiest detention ever.

Watching the back of Raven's head carefully to make sure that she was not about to turn around and catch him in the act, Garfield quietly slipped his hand into his pocket and pulled out his trusty pocket gamestation, the one thing he could have always relied upon to get him through the boring hours of school. Muting the sound, Garfield slowly turned the system on, hoping that the silent click the on button made went unnoticed by the purple haired teen in front of him.

**Welcome to the most advanced portable gaming experience of your life.**

Garfield smiled at the introductory on-screen words that always popped up every time the system was started. True, something like that was bound to get annoying after a while, but the green haired teen could not help but think it was worth it. The sheer awesomeness of the games spoke for themselves, and at a place like the one Garfield was in now, he was willing to endure all of this and more if it meant he would be able to conquer his boredom in the near future.

**Some of our competitors are still stuck in the past with just one or two screens. We have five.**

Even Garfield had to admit that five screens was a bit much, but it was five times the gaming. There was no way he could argue with that math.

**Now, get ready to pla-**

Blank. The screens had just died, leaving only the faintest hint of the words they once displayed behind, which did not take long to fade into nothingness themselves. Garfield stared at the screens in complete and utter horror. Needless to say, **that** in no way was supposed to happen. He was supposed to be playing games right now. WHY WASN'T HE PLAYING GAMES? It just did not make any sense. The system had a built in rechargeable battery, and he always set it to charge during the night while he was asleep, and he was sure he had set it the night before just like any other night. At least, he thought he did…

_llllllllllflashbackllllllllll_

The hour was two in the morning, and almost everyone in the Logan household was asleep. The only one who could endure fewer hours of sleep was young Garfield Logan, a jovial teenager with a rather odd obsession with video games, and that obsession is the very reason he is up at this hour.

The five screens of his pocket gamestation did a perfect job of illuminating his entire room and keeping him wide awake, but right now, the light was not needed to keep him up. He was at a very complicated and important part of one of his new games. It required his full attention and concentration. Otherwise, the last four hours he had spent in front of the screen would have been for naught. He was determined to get to a good saving point and actually attempt to get some sleep before he had to wake up and get ready for school, and he silently cursed the designers of this game for not putting a good save point anywhere where he needed them to be.

The four hours of gaming had taken its toll on his pocket gamestation, and the light that signaled the battery power of the system had turned yellow long ago, which only increased Garfield's desperation to find a save point. If it turned red, it meant he only had a good twenty minutes left to play. Fortunately, as his on screen character moved from the left most screen to the center one, a save point came into view, but it was not alone.

The boss of the area was positioned directly behind it, and the green haired boy found himself in an internal battle about whether or not he should fight it tonight or not. Somehow, his reason won out, and Garfield quickly forced his character to the save point. Once he had saved, he found himself yawning rather loudly, and a sense of drowsiness came upon him quickly. However, before he could make a decision, the yellow light changed to red, but it went unnoticed. Turning the pocket gamestation off, he flung it on the side of his bed, no longer awake enough to remember to place it on the charger.

"I'll beat the boss tomorrow," Gar mumbled to himself as he drifted closer and closer to sleep. "It's sleepy time now."

_llllllllllend flashbackllllllllll_

Garfield almost let his pocket gamestation slip from his hands as he realized just what he had done the night before. How could he have been so stupid? He knew that he had school the next day, and he had never gone to school without a fully charged gamestation since he had gotten it. Why did today of all days have to be different? Did the universe just hate him, or did the fates actually want him to learn a lesson? If so, what lesson would that be? If it was not to talk back to teachers, then it was obvious that this was one of the stupidest lessons someone tried to get Gar to learn.

What right did Professor Chang have to judge Raven and call her weird? If it was her purple hair, then this whole situation is moronic. There was not anything wrong with Raven having purple hair. It was who she was, and to be quite honest, Garfield actually liked the color purple. It was his favorite color after all, and he actually thought it looked… kind of… nice on Raven, though he'd never let anyone catch him saying that out loud. Victor would have a field day, and what was worse is that Raven might take it wrong and then they would never find his body. Needless to say, getting killed was not on his to do list and would not be anytime soon.

Sighing to himself, Garfield carefully folded up his pocket gamestation back into its natural rectangular shape, and slipped it into his pocket. The only bright side Gar could see in all of this was that Raven did not seem to notice anything he had just done. Either that or it was just that she did not care, but Garfield was willing to bet it was just that she did not notice. It looked to him like she was trying to read her book again, and he briefly wonder just what was so special about that dumb old book.

The way Raven had stood up to their English teacher in defense of the book she had assigned ran through Garfield's mind. Yeah, he should definitely watch what he said about any type of books while around Raven. He tried to forget about thinking of her book as dumb and old, but the more time that passed, the more he seemed to hate her book. It was not out of spite or any previous experience he had with a book, but it was because a part of him was jealous of it and of Raven.

Since his batteries died, Garfield had counted and recounted all eight hundred ceiling tiles in the cafeteria without using multiplication. It took longer, but that was sort of the point at the moment. However, that was just about all he could think of to do. All the excitement he had felt earlier about being alone had vanished when he realized just how few things he could do in the cafeteria when all he had to use were tables and chairs and a certain pale girl who probably would object to any idea he could think of. Things were definitely not living up to the hype he had created, and boredom continued swell within him.

Every time he looked at raven, jealousy swelled within him. Why was she not as bored as he was, and what was it about the book that kept her that way? There was no way he was missing anything by not reading books. Reading endless pages of boring text could not compete with video games, could they? He hated that book that was interesting Raven so much. It was like he was the only one being punished here, and that was just unfair. He hated it, but mostly, he hated that Raven would rather spend her time reading her book than talking to him.

A part of Garfield wanted to be that book. At least then Raven would pay attention to him, but he knew he would not be satisfied with just that. He just wanted to talk with Raven so that he would no longer be bored. That is what he told himself, at least. In truth, Garfield just wanted some form of human interaction. It was the one thing he could not go without. He was addicted to it, and over the years, he started to do anything and everything to get it. His conquest usually ended in him making a complete fool of himself, but this school seemed different. It was more likely that it was the people in the school that were the cause, but he just felt comfortable around them. Sure, there was the occasional moment when he was running for his life from Raven or yelling at Victor for saying something that he had no right to accuse him of, but he really did not mind it all at the end of the day. He could not remember the last time he had such good friends.

But, that did not solve his problem. He was bored, and the only solution he had come up with was to just go over there and get Raven's attention. Hopefully, she would not be cruel enough to do anything harsh, but it would not hurt to seem appealing. He had been working on a way to make his face look irresistibly cute to the point where no one had any chance at all of being mad at him. However, he did find himself feeling less and less masculine every time he tried that on someone, but he was secure enough not to care. If it works, it works. Quietly, Garfield slipped out of his chair and stood to his feet. He did not want to sneak up on Raven, but he also did not want to interrupt her reading until he absolutely had to.

A few tables in front of the slow approaching Garfield, Raven sat with her back turned to everything he was doing, but she would not have cared even if she could see him. Things were getting far too interesting in her book, and her mind was barely registering anything else outside of the words on the page anymore. The book, a lengthy horror novel, was one of Raven's newest purchases which she had bought just for school. Oftentimes, Raven found that the material public schools covered was quite remedial for her, and it eventually led to her reading her book in most of her classes. Today seemed to be an exception, though. She had been itching to find out what was happening to the characters in the novel, but every time she tried to read, something always came up to stop her. It was getting frustrating, but there was nothing in her way now and she was free to completely immerse herself in the world the elaborate descriptions and words painted for her.

_The vile stench seemed to grow stronger as Margaret eased her way down the long, dark hallway. She easily recognized the stench that had now grown to almost unbearable levels. It was the stench of death, and she had seen a lot of it in her time, more than any other investigator at least. She easily pinned the smell as fresh and hastened her pace while still trying to muffle her footsteps, though the solid stone flooring was not making her job any easier._

_If she hurried, the killer might still be there this time. She might actually see his face, assuming that it was even a he at all. That did not matter, though. Whoever the killer was killed her family, and she was not going to forget it due to their gender. It would not save them from their fate. Margaret would make sure of that. Just then, the inspector heard something that made her blood run cold. There were footsteps fast approaching her from behind._

Odd. Raven swore she could almost really hear a set of footsteps behind her. It was as if the book set such a vivid scene that she was actually there in Margaret's place. It was no wonder Raven was liking this book more and more with every word she read.

_Margaret's ears had to be playing tricks on her. She had locked the door behind her when she came in, in hopes of catching the criminal with no escape route, but that could only mean that someone had skill in picking locks and wanted to get through the door just for kicks or… someone who had the key just got through. _

_The inspector searched the barely visible hallway vigorously, trying to find someplace that could shield her from view. There was nothing, and now the footsteps sounded like the owner was running at her. She knew she had been spotted, and she had no choice but to flee towards the smell of death and hope to find some way of defending herself there. And so, she ran, but she did not get far before she tripped on something hard. There was very little light in this part of the hallway, but something told Margaret that whatever it was could not be any good for her._

_Quickly, she struggled back to her feet, only to have all the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. The footsteps behind her were gone, but a strange feeling took their place. She could feel something uncomfortably close to her now._

Raven felt it too. She had never felt something this real just by reading a book before, especially a horror novel that badly written, but she swore she could almost feel what was happening to the characters. She could not stop now. She had to read on. It was like her life depended on it, and Margaret's life very well may have.

_She could not move. She did not want to move. Something was there; she knew it. Who or what it was was a mystery, but it all became horrifyingly clear when a familiar voice broke through the darkness and called out her name._

"Raven," a voice called out from beside her, causing the pale teen to let out an uncharacteristic yelp in fear.

Not knowing what to think, Raven threw the book down onto the table and tried desperately to shove it as far away from her as she could. Instinctively, Raven reached out for anything she could touch, feel, or hold. Raven needed to grab onto something, and it did not matter what. She had to have comfort and to get a sense that the world she knew was real. Fortunately for her, she found something rather large to wrap her arms around, and she clung to it without holding back.

She scolded herself for being so pathetic, but the fear would not go away. Trying to force the book out of her sight, Raven buried her face into whatever it was she was holding onto. She did not have a clue as to what it might be, but right now, Raven could not care less. It did not matter, because there was something about it that seemed to make everything swelling inside her calm down. She was still terrified of what had just happened, but at least her fears were not increasing.

As her fright began to calm down, Raven began to notice little things about what she was holding. It was large, yes, but it seemed to be rather thin. The rough sensation of fabric was evident on her face, and she could feel warmth coming from it. However, it was only when she finally felt two extra sets of things wrap around her midsection drawing her closer to the thing did she realize that it was not a thing at all. The thing she had clutched onto was the worst possible thing she could have chosen in her moment of terror: a person.

Quickly, Raven jerked herself away from whoever it was, though it seemed that they were reluctant at first to let her go. Sliding to the edge of her chair opposite of the person beside her, Raven saw that it was none other than Garfield Logan. As the knowledge of the fact that she had just technically hugged him and he had hugged back surfaced in her mind, a blush rose onto her cheeks, though it was far from wanted. Ignoring the confused look on Garfield's face, Raven swiftly tugged her hood back over her head to cover the rapidly darkening blush and mentally yelled at herself for not doing it sooner. And then, everything clicked, and Raven understood completely what had just happened.

Without warning, Garfield found himself being hit by Raven… hard… and repeatedly. Needless to say, the green haired teen was confused, but there was little time for reflecting on Raven's actions when she was trying her hardest to pummel him to death. Taking the only option available to him, Gar roughly caught one of Raven's oncoming arms and clutched it tightly, minimizing the threat Raven posed by half. However, it seemed that Raven did not care about her lost hand as she continued to beat Gar with her free one, growling barely audible words through her clenched teeth.

"Don't… you… ever… do… that… to… me… again,… Garfield… Logan." Raven spoke each word as she brought her clenched fist down on some random place on Garfield's body. She did not care where she was hitting him as long as she was hitting him. Somewhere along the line, Raven's hood once again fell to her shoulders, but she was far too busy to care about that.

With a lucky grab, Garfield managed to trap Raven's second arm as it was coming dangerously close to his face, but even with both her arms trapped, Raven still put up a fight. Garfield found it incredibly difficult to keep his hold on Raven's arms as she squirmed and did everything she could to get free. It was after the second kick to the shin that Garfield decided that he had to do something drastic. In one swift motion, Garfield forced Raven's hands to her side and shoved her backwards until she was lying on her back across three different seats with him looming over her. He was not angry with being hit, just a little bit confused, though he could not say that he did not expect a similar reaction from her. He just thought this was a little extreme.

In any case, he now had the higher ground, and he was able to keep Raven down and not thrashing about from his position. It was then that he got his first good look at her expression since all the fighting started. Raven's face seemed a little flushed, which did not make much sense to Garfield at all, but it was her eyes that really confused him. They were not angry or spiteful as she looked up at him, but instead, there was a clear sign of pure relief present in her deep, beautiful eyes. He had never really looked into them before, and now that he did, he found that he could not look away.

It was as if time itself had stopped just at the exact moment Garfield's and Raven's eyes met. They were each transfixed on the other, and neither knew exactly what was going on at that moment. Their minds completely shut down, and neither could force themselves to turn away. And so, they remained in that position for what seemed an eternity until what seemed to be a mere random thought popped into one of their heads.

Realizing that their current position could easily be mistaken as less than innocent, Garfield quickly released Raven's and stumbled several feet backwards, trying to get as much distance between him and her as possible in case she decided that she was not yet quite done with her attack. Fortunately for him, Raven's mind seemed to not register the fact that Garfield had released her, and she remained perfectly still, seemingly unaware of anything around her.

For a moment, Garfield actually thought that he had broken her somehow, though he had a feeling that it would take a lot more than that to break someone who seemed so strong as Raven, but he could not know for sure. Reluctantly, Garfield took a step towards Raven, thinking it was best to check up on her, but as soon as he did, the pale girl shot upwards, back into her seat properly.

Raven shook her head a few times to get the last bits of chaos out of her mind. The last few minutes of her life were by far the worst she had ever experienced. Not only had she made a fool of herself by yelping like a coward, but she had actually latched onto Garfield for comfort. It was utterly humiliating, and he might be thinking about laughing at her now, but a part of her knew that he'd think twice after the beating she had given him. Raven was not sorry for doing that. Garfield deserved it for what he did. What was he thinking, sneaking up on her like that? All this was his fault anyway, and there was no reason she should feel bad for making him understand that.

With a determined glint in her eyes, Raven spun around in her chair and glared daggers, which turned out to be more like butter knives, at the confused green haired teen. Her usual irritated expressions just were not showing up anymore. "What?"

After everything that had happened, that question no longer made any sense, and neither did Raven for that matter. Was she not just the one trying to beat him from one inch of his life? How could she just turn around and ask him something after all that had just happened? Garfield could still feel the stinging in his left arm, so he knew he was not just making all of this up. It was…. It was all just really frustrating and confusing.

Raven continued to glare, but did her best to increase the intensity the longer she remained without an answer. "Well?" She asked, trying to sound impatient as she caught Garfield's gaze fall on her.

"Well, what!" Gar exclaimed in outrage. He was sick of this. "First, I just try and get your attention, and then, you're trying to kill me. What's up with that? Then, I have to fight for my life to get you to stop, and all you can say is 'What?'. What is your deal? I actually thought I might die back there."

"Do you plan on interrupting my reading again anytime soon?" Raven asked with a forced grin.

A part of Raven hated that she had to revert back to her normal personality at a time when she did not actually want to. For the first time in a while, Raven found herself actually wanting to give someone else an honest response when it came to her feelings. She actually thought Garfield deserved a decent and truthful answer that time, but she also believed she should have one as well. Her usual methods would get her that answer more efficiently and without having to reveal anything about herself. However, it seemed much more difficult to put on her stolid face this time than any time before.

"Of course not!" Garfield yelled exasperatedly.

Raven folded her arms across her chest and tried her best to smirk evilly. "Then, you have your answer."

Garfield sighed angrily, or at least he tried to make it sound angrily. This was the first time he had ever been upset with Raven, and he quickly learned that he did not feel an ounce of anger in his body at all. It was all very frustrating. He knew he should have been angry, but he was not. Raven had attacked him, and he was fine with it. What was wrong with him?

"That's not the point," Garfield managed to force out calmly. "Why did all of that just happen?"

Raven stared at Gar blankly, unwilling to reveal any information through her face. "I have my reasons."

Those reasons being he had scared her half to death, and she was so relieved to see that it was just him that she could not do anything but beat him within an inch of his life, but that obviously made _perfect_ sense. Basically, she did not want Garfield to know just how afraid she had been while reading that book. It was too unlike her to get that worked up, and she had no excuse for it. She would never allow anyone to see her in a moment of weakness. Raven just chose to ignore the fact that she had shown Garfield something that was much more than a mere moment of weakness just a few minutes ago.

"And you're not going to tell me just what those reasons are, are you?" Garfield asked as he mimicked Raven by crossing his own arms across his chest. The only answer he got was the continuing blank stare coming from Raven. "Right," he sighed in defeat.

"You still haven't answered my question," Raven said sternly. "What did you want when you called my name?"

"Oh," Garfield perked up when he realized exactly what Raven was talking about, but then, he quickly averted his gaze in embarrassment. "I-I was just wondering if you wanted to talk. Ya know, to pass the time since we're both stuck in here for another," Garfield looked at the clock hanging on the wall, and what he read made his eyes bulge, "forty minutes." It seemed like forever had gone by since he had arrived in the cafeteria for his detention, but a mere twenty minutes had passed. He could not believe it, but he forced himself to continue on. "So, what do ya say?"

Raven's eyes narrowed at his question. "You wanted to talk." She repeated his words in disbelief, which caused Garfield's expression to drop slightly, but she paid it no mind. "We both went through all of that just because you could not will yourself to stand a mere hour of silence?" Raven's eye twitched, and Garfield took a few steps back in fear. Seeing this, Raven followed his lead and matched his steps with her own. "Well, if you want to talk," Raven stopped advancing as soon as Garfield's back hit the nearby wall, "then talk."

The green haired teen stared at Raven in confusion. That was hardly the response he was expecting, but as long as she was willing, he was not about to pass up this opportunity. He opened his mouth, but stopped after that. He let himself hang there for a few moments before letting his jaw slowly return back to its normal position.

"You've got nothing to talk about, do you Garfield?" Raven sighed in frustration.

Garfield blushed and laughed nervously. "Well, uh… no, actually. I just thought that… uh… I don't know what I thought."

"Figures," Raven spat as she turned around and returned to her seat.

"No!" Gar called out desperately as he chased after her. "I've got it! I've got this great joke I could tell you, it's about these two guys with a lemming, and –"

Raven groaned inwardly and slouched in her seat. In her mind, she was thinking that maybe it would have been better if she had killed him when she had the chance. Things certainly would have been a lot more peaceful right about now. Oh, how she missed the silence. Maybe it was not too late. Maybe she could still find a way to-

"Raven!" Garfield yelled while he waved a hand in front of her face frantically. "Raven, are you even listening to. You're going to miss the punch line. Raven? Helloooo? Raven!"

Well, ignoring him was certainly out of the question. "No, Garfield," Raven sighed in exasperation. "Telling me a joke would only be a waste of breath. If you haven't noticed so far, I don't laugh, and I don't do funny. So, unless you've got something meaningful to discuss with me, I'll just go back to my book and-"

"Oh come on, Raven," Gar smiled smugly. "Everyone loves a good joke now and then, and I bet you have a beautiful smile. I just have to get it out of ya."

"Do I have to start hitting you again?" Raven asked threateningly, but the tone in her voice went unnoticed.

"Alright," Gar continued on relentlessly. "Now, this joke is guaranteed to make you at least smile, Rae-" he noticed Raven's glare, but misinterpreted its meaning and quickly added the rest of her name, "-ven! Okay. These two Egyptians and a Cuban walk into a bar, and -"

Something familiar deep within her told Raven that she had just been forced down a dark pathway from which there was no possible return. It was going to be a long, tedious detention.

* * *

**Finals all next week. No chapter. Sorry.**


	13. The Long Road Back

**Disclaimer: **I do not own the Teen Titans, unfortunately. Any views or opinions expressed in this fan fiction are strictly those of the author, me. The latter statement is probably just a formality, unless I somehow work my love of all things Canadian **(GO CANADA)** into this fan fiction.

* * *

**Chapter 12: The Long Road Back**

Just as Raven had anticipated, the majority of the remainder of hers and Garfield's shared detention was indeed quite long and highly tedious to endure. Twice she had found herself slowly reaching into her pocket to retrieve her forgotten pencil while determining the exact spot on Gar's neck to stab so that the result would fall just short of fatal. However, she would never take such actions on someone… without good reason. As far as Raven could tell, Garfield's motives for telling such annoying jokes were in fact decent. There was nothing wrong with trying to lighten another person's spirits, but he was just focusing on the entirely wrong person. Raven could not recall herself ever succumbing to laughter before, and by the way Garfield told jokes, it was obvious that she was not going to learn how it felt any time soon.

The introverted girl did not refuse to laugh at Gar's antics just because of her prior excuse that she "did not _do_ laughter." It was merely because she failed to see how exactly some of the situations Garfield described could be considered humorous. How the literal meaning of someone walking into a metal bar humorous enough to induce the kind of laughter Gar gave off after he described the situation? Would not one's first reaction be to help that person, or even if they had gained a concussion or another serious injury from it? Logically, Raven just could not understand it. What proof did Gar have that a random blond haired girl would stop at her next door neighbor's house and ask them for directions on how to get back to her own home? Such "jokes" as people called them only served to further a negative stereotype of the people they mock in the minds of those that laugh, though Raven herself did harbor a rather strange hatred for any girl with blond hair but she did not think of them in any lesser sense than she would any other human being intellectually. Garfield's humor was just… to simply put it: unintelligent, and Raven desperately searched for a means of escaping his odd form of torture.

In a stroke of genius, Raven then thought that perhaps if she just faked a laugh with a bit of false emotion behind it, Garfield would then be satisfied but more importantly stop talking. The plan was simple enough even perhaps too simple, but this was Garfield she was considering trying this on.

'_Simple things for simple minds,'_ she reasoned with herself.

Thus, she put her plan in motion and waited until she was sure that the scarf he was talking about turning out to be an actual live and very agitated monkey was the punch line of his most recent attempt at humor, and she let loose the best forced fake laugh she could think of in hopes that it would be just enough to satisfy the urge Gar seemed to have to get her to laugh. Unfortunately, if there was one thing that Raven was not, it was an actor. Her laugh, if one could indeed call it such, ended up sounding closer to a violent cough than a true laugh.

Upon hearing Raven's failed attempt at a laugh, Garfield's broad smile slowly faded until he was staring blankly at his purple haired friend. It was as if all happiness had been drained from his face so much so that Raven honestly swore that Garfield no longer looked like the Garfield she knew. She had seen him happy. She had seen him afraid for his life. She had seen him embarrassed. She had even seen him in a time of self-loathing, but this was just an… unnatural look for the green haired boy. If Raven did not clearly know any better, the stolid girl would have been more than willing to bet anything that Garfield was actually some sort of changeling that could alter his physical appearance at a whim. She did in fact know better and her theory was obviously faulty, but it was still a quite odd sight to see. This was obviously a side of Garfield that Raven had never encountered before in their day together, and the closest thing she could think of that would even begin to remotely describe the expression she saw in him now was pure and unrepressed despair. To simply put it, this was an absolutely unbearable sight.

The familiar pang of guilt began to swell in the depths of Raven's soul, and she uncomfortably shuffled her feet awkwardly in an attempt to force her mind somewhere other than locked on Garfield's face. Sadly, It did not work. The almost pained expression he wore now made Raven feel worse than she had ever felt in her life. She tried to remind herself that all she did was fake a laugh to make him happy, but that was obviously a lie fabricated to make herself feel better. Raven knew that she was in no way concerned about Garfield's feelings at all when she forced that laugh, and a part of her knew for certain that he easily came to the same conclusion. All she wanted was for him to shut up for at least five minutes.

Surely her way would have been less painful than if she had just told him to shut his mouth outright, but then why did Garfield look like his very heart had been ripped out of his body at the moment. Raven averted her gaze, unable to take that look he was giving her anymore. As cold and mysterious as she tried to make herself out to be, simple things like these really got to her, and now she wanted nothing more than to return the rightful smile back to the green haired boy's kind face.

Raven frantically tried to think of something… anything to say that would cheer Garfield up even the slightest bit. She knew that whatever she said was going to be completely unlike her and out of her usual character, but she was far too desperate to care. Just once, her stolid demeanor could be put on hold. Despite how much she usually enjoyed it, Raven now hated the silence between them, and missed the times when he was carrying on without a care in the world. A mere three minutes ago she had simply been annoyed and Garfield seemed perfectly content with telling failing joke after failing joke, but those times felt like they were years away from the present now. It was like Garfield's bright, smiling face had been lost to her memory so long ago. All that remained was the image of that… that… thing standing before her, the thing that Raven refused to believe was still the same teenager she had befriended that day. It was too impossible to be true.

Unbeknownst to either Raven or Garfield, the doors to the cafeteria abruptly swung silently open, and in walked the duo's Algebra teacher who seemed to be nursing his writing hand painfully. Obviously, their teacher had just run through more paperwork than he ever wanted to see again, and was deeply considering calling in sick for the next few days. However, that would only leave him more work to catch up on when he got back, so he quickly dismissed the thought in favor of getting home as soon as possible. All he had to do was release his two little captives, and then he could finally leave the school behind him for the day. Unfortunately for him, yet another stack of old ungraded homework waited for him there. Tonight was going to be a long night.

As soon as the algebra teacher spotted his two students in the middle of the cafeteria, he stopped in mid stride and just stared at the strange sigh in surprise. In his mind, he had envisioned the two of them laughing and joking around with each other or even just talking amongst themselves while he was gone. They certainly had the freedom to do things like that while he was not there, but they were just standing there with expressions on their faces that were anything but happy. He did not know what happened while he was gone, but those two kids obviously needed some time to work things out. However, he could not allow them to do it here. He just wanted to leave, and he was not allowed to until his charges had gone. Sometimes, he hated the rules.

"Um," the teacher suddenly spoke up uncertainly, "you guys can leave now." His abrupt intrusion made Raven jump slightly, but Garfield remained perfectly unfazed with the same disappointing expression still glued to his face. "It's been an hour. You've both done your time, so why don't you both g-"

Once the teacher's words reached the stolid girl's ears, Raven did not hesitate for another second. Because of everything that happened, the purple haired girl could only draw one conclusion from the preceding events. Garfield was no longer speaking to her, he obviously knew that her laugh was anything but real, he knew that she had just been trying to shut him up, and now he probably hated her for what she had done. Obviously, it was a very drastic assumption to make and it took a giant leap of ill placed faith to believe it, but that was the conclusion Raven's mind drew and Raven showed no signs of even speculating about being wrong. Her mind was left with only one solitary command for her body, and that was for her to get as far away from Gar as you can because it was more than obvious to her that that is exactly what he wants. Thus, without even paying one last glance at the former jovial teen, Raven ran.

Distantly, Raven head Garfield yell out her name in surprise as she sprinted from the room, but it too sounded entirely devoid of its original glee, though there was a large amount of urgency in it. In its confusion, Raven's mind convinced itself that the urgency was nothing more than anger. After all, Garfield _had_ just yelled at her. What else was she supposed to think? She was convinced now that her brief friendship with the green haired boy was now nothing more than a footnote in the story of her life, and it made things worse for Raven to know that she had just been the one to screw things up between them. Raven loathed herself for that.

As soon as Garfield's senses returned to him, he shot out after Raven in hot pursuit. There was no way he was going to let things end like this after their entire day together was more than decent at the very least. He had made far too much progress toward winning Raven's full friendship to let it all end in a simple misunderstanding like this, because it was just that, a misunderstanding.

True, Gar was greatly disappointed that Raven would rather try and underhandedly escape from hearing his jokes than to just come out and ask him to stop. It did not bother him that she obviously did not think his jokes were that funny. Okay, it bothered him a little, but not enough to justify anything happening now. In fact, Garfield had gotten quite used to the fact that his sense of humor had been described as an acquired taste, though he hardly knew exactly what that meant. In truth, what bothered the green haired teen so much was that Raven did not seem trust him enough to let him know how she really felt about the things he did. Maybe it was asking for a bit too much too soon, but Gar wanted Raven to feel like she could tell him anything. He wanted her to know that he was there for her no matter what, and that friendship was supposed to be strong enough to endure the things friends say about each other, especially when those things were true. Gar wanted all of his friends to feel like that when around him, but he wanted Raven to see the truth in what he wanted the most.

Garfield was no fool when it came to noticing the small things about someone, though he had been known to overlook the facts when joking around or playing a prank on someone. Gar had gotten a lot of people mad at him in his lifetime for stupid things like that, but that was history and this was the present. It was obvious to him from the way Raven ran from him that she had come to the entirely wrong conclusion about why his expression changed so suddenly. He had to catch up with Raven and explain things, but there was one rather large problem with his plan that he could have never anticipated. Raven was an extraordinarily fast runner, a faster one than he had initially expected.

As soon as Garfield was past the cafeteria doorway, Raven was already more than halfway down the main hallway towards the front doors. Despite his obsession with video games that required little to no physical activity at all, Garfield knew how to run well, he just reserved it for desperate or fatal situations because it tired him out quicker than he would like to admit. The green haired boy did not have a trace of fat on his thin body, but he was far from in shape. However, these were indeed desperate times for him. Garfield had to get to Raven, and there was no other way to go about it at this point but to run. As he sprung forth from the open doorway, he ignored the echoing voice of the teacher behind him calling out and saying that there was no running in the hallways. He already had a week's worth of detention lined up on his record from just today alone. What else could they do to him?

It did not take Garfield long to severely cut the distance between himself and Raven in the straight hallway, and if it was not for the fact that the school housed dozens of teachers that could probably physically stop him from catching Raven if alerted to his presence, he would be frequently and frantically calling out her name. However, Raven was nearing the doors now, and Garfield was still a good few steps behind her. The only solace in that fact for Gar was that he was almost positive that they both took the same route home. Not only had he met up with her that morning while walking from his house to school, but if Raven had agreed to let him walk her home, then she most likely lived on the same street that he found her on unless she was simply a cruel person. Though the latter could be easily proven by her earlier actions today, Garfield chose to believe the former out of blind faith. Once they were outside of school, he could use the entire surface of the earth to catch up to her if he needed to. Nothing could stop him now.

However, the closer they got to the front doorway, the more Garfield began to believe that he would not have to worry about catching her outside of the school. He was gaining ground on Raven fast, and he quickly realized that she would be temporarily slowed once she was forced to actually open the front doors to the school. That action would take a few extra seconds, and those seconds would be all Garfield needed to close the remainder of the gap between them… or so he hoped. Figuring all of this out in his head seemed frighteningly close to math, and he had showed Raven earlier that math was not his strong suit. However, this time, his calculations proved to be true.

Sure enough, Raven was forced to skid to a halt a few feet from the door to safely push it open. Raven remembered from that morning that it was a rather heavy door, and it required a lot of force to get it open. Going at it at full speed would only result in getting a large bruise on the side of one's face, either of the situations ultimately benefited Gar, but he was glad that Raven showed enough sense to slow down a bit as she approached the doorway. It would be a lot easier to calm down a frantic Raven than a half conscious Raven with a very noticable bruise on her head. Just as Raven was slipping through the small opening the doorway she had made, Garfield made his move. In a daring leap, Gar dove towards his escaping friend with an arm outstretched aimed at Raven's lagging arm that was quickly disappearing behind the closing door.

Luck, as it would seem, was on Garfield's side for the moment as his fingers fell upon something soft and smooth. Without thinking, Gar clasped his fingers around the object and held on as tightly as he could. Her hand was now in his possession, and he was not about to let go until things were sorted out. However, that was the exact point where Garfield's luck ran out. In his rush to catch up to Raven, in his attempts to catch her before she got outside, in his haste to overlook everything else around him that was not his pale female friend, Gar had completely forgotten about what that same door that Raven had wisely slowed to avoid collision with could do to him. As Gar looked up in triumph after he had grabbed a hold on the pale girl's hand, he saw the large, heavy door swinging back on its hinges straight towards him.

It was all over before either of them knew what happened. Raven had felt Gar's hand clasp down on hers, but in an instant it was gone. In its place, a loud and deafening thud that boomed out from behind her, causing a large amount of fear to bubble up within her. It did not take her very long to put two and two together, but that did not stop her from wishing that her assumptions were not true. Knowing everything Garfield had been through earlier that day, something like this was the last thing Gar needed to live through. The purple haired teen knew that gar would probably just yell at her even more if she stuck around, but she could not in good conscience keep running if what she suspected had indeed occurred.

Reluctantly, Raven stopped running and turned to view the scene behind her. What she saw frightened her. Garfield lie limply on the ground with more than half of his body still remaining within the school walls stuck inside the half closed doorway. Scenes of their earlier time during physical education plashed through Raven's mind, and her heart raced with fear. Before, she had been furious with the ones that had caused Gar, the first and seemingly only person who was nice and wanted to get to know her, that amount of pain. This time, her feelings were exactly the same, even though Raven knew that she was the one that had just caused Gar to relive that same pain.

The guilt that was in her heart before magnified a thousand times over, and just to make things worse, her thoughts felt the need to second guess themselves. They reminded her that she had merely assumed that Garfield was mad at her for her failed attempt to silence his constant annoying jokes, and that she had not once heard a singe trace of anger in his voice nor had she seen any written on his face. For all she knew, Garfield had just found it odd that she had laughed at the wrong part of his joke and he only paused in confusion.

Raven's thoughts berated her for jumping to conclusions as fast as she did. She was better than that. She was stronger than that, and yet she had felt so weak after thinking that Garfield might hate her for her mistake. The very notion seemed absurd to Raven now, and yet she had clung to it so adamantly before. Raven had been a fool, plain and simple, and she could not hate herself anymore at the moment. However, her self-loathing could wait. Garfield looked like he needed help… badly.

No longer caring about whether or not the green haired boy hated her, though she was now sure that he definitely would after all this, Raven sprinted over to his downed body. Garfield certainly looked a lot better than she though he would after something like that, but he still was not moving, and that was the thing that told Raven that something was dreadfully wrong with him. Carefully, Raven scanned over his body trying to see if Garfield sustained any serious injuries other that the possible head trauma that was evidently obvious due to his unmoving state. Fortunately, she could not see any, and her next priority was to get him out from the partially closed doorway. Unconscious or not, the position Gar was in had to be uncomfortable.

Swiftly, Raven bent down to get a good grip on the upper half of Garfield, but it seemed that she was not thinking along those lines alone. As soon as Raven's arms met with the Green haired boy's skin, both of Garfield's arms latched onto one of Raven's. Garfield's eyes sprang open as he half grinned in triumph, but mostly frowned in concern. His plan had worked perfectly, though he could not recall actually bothering to think it up. The last thing he remembered was a sharp pain as he rammed the closing door head first, and then he woke up to Raven's touch. However, how things got to this point was no longer important. Garfield was mere feet away from Raven now, and his only concern was again smoothing things over between them.

As quickly as the jovial teen could, he leapt to his feet, stumbled forward a few times because his feet were still technically inside the school, righted himself, and then stood face to face with Raven who showed no signs of resisting his grasp as she had mere minutes before. Garfield believed this to be due to the fact that he had caught Raven by surprise, and although that was true, it was in all actuality because Raven had begun to understand the folly in her own previous assumptions. However, Garfield did not allow this to deter him from his ultimate goal.

"Raven –"

"Garfield," the two teens said each other's names in unison, determined to get their side out first, but Gar would not relent.

"No, Raven," Garfield spoke over his pale friend, "I really need to say this. I know that you faked that laugh back there."

"Yes, but-"

"And I know that you probably thought that I hated you for it by the way I reacted to it," Garfield continued cutting Raven off once more. "Now, I don't know why you ran, but you need to understand that I don't hate you. I don't know of any other way to convince you that I can't hate you for something as stupid as that. I'm sorry about this, but.." Garfield's voice trailed off as he mentally prepared himself for the possible death sentence that he was probably about to sign on himself, but there was no other choice.

"Garfield, I'm s-" but Raven's voice left her as Garfield suddenly vanished from her sight as he rushed forward and enveloped her in a tight hug. Raven's mind seemed to shut down as Garfield embraced her, and the reactions that she knew she should be having because of this seemed so distant and transparent in the farthest corners of her mind. A Raven from the past would have probably shoved the boy back into the same door numerous times before being satisfied, but the present Raven would not even dream of taking actions even remotely close to those. All she could think to do was to just stand there and be hugged.

The feeling of Garfield's arms wrapped around her was a surprisingly good feeling. It was warm, obviously. Raven assumed that most hugs would be, but there was something about this particular hug that made Raven think that it could somehow be warmer than most, like it was warming her very soul. Before, she had always viewed a hug as something reserved for people who had moved passed the point of friendship, anything else and a hug would be an invasion of privacy.

This hug, however, did not feel that way at all. It felt comforting and inviting, almost as if it were something long lost that had recently been regained. The way Garfield's body was pressed gently against her own and the way his head seemed to belong on her shoulder just seemed so natural. She almost did not notice her arms find their way around Garfield while she began to lean into the hug. However, the instant Raven caught herself, she forced her arms back down, but she could not force herself to pull away.

As Garfield continued to hug Raven, she suddenly felt something change inside of her. It was not a physical change, and it was more than a mere emotional change. Raven could clearly feel one of the any emotional walls that she had built up over time come crashing down, and it did not seem to be the only one. The longer the duo held each other, the more Raven felt that Garfield was different than the people she had know in what seemed like another lifetime. Where they betrayed her, she somehow got the feeling that Garfield never would. This hug was one of the best moments of hr life, though she would be the last person to admit something like that.

Forcing all the hatred and cruelness into her voice as she could, Raven looked down at the green haired teen embracing her. "Garfield," Raven spoke his name with every ounce of spite that she could, but it ended up sounding rather gentle, almost content. The purple haired girl inwardly groaned at this and hoped that it would go unnoticed. "Garfield," she repeated with a little more force this time, "you're touching me again. I thought I told you never to touch me."

Gar's eyes wet wide as Raven's words echoed in his mind, and he quickly shot back from Raven like she was made of hot embers. He tried to make himself laugh nervously, thinking that it would help relieve some tension, but nothing came out. Only a goofy grin and a slight blush appeared over his face. "Ah… right," Garfield managed to force out, though he was mysteriously unable to meet Raven's gaze, "sorry about that."

Raven managed to roll her eyes and give a slight glare at Garfield's less than apologetic tone. Something told her that he enjoyed that if the hug indeed lasted as long as it did, but that train of thought ended quickly as her thoughts seemed to focus on the fact that she had done little to ended quicker than she did. That was a road her mind was not ready to travel.

"So… uh," Garfield spoke up hesitantly as he managed to gather up all of his courage to he could actually look Raven in the eyes, "is everything… cool… between us, I mean? Are we cool? No more running?" Garfield grinned hopefully.

Everything within her almost made Raven laugh at that goofy grin of Garfield's, but she managed to cover it up with what could pass as a frustrated sigh. "For the moment," she stated in her usual dry tone, but her lips revealed the slightest hint of a smirk this time, "no more running."

Garfield grinned broadly at Raven in relief. He was glad that everything seemed okay between them now, but he still could not shake his own disappointment. Gar still wanted Raven to open up to him more and trust him. He wanted everyone he knew to trust him, but it seemed that Raven was the one that did the least. However, now that his mind was not in a state of panic like it had been before, Garfield could actually think things through properly. Though that never really stopped the green haired boy from doing foolish things in the past, he decided to try something new and listen to what his brain was telling him. If Raven was not ready to put her complete faith and trust in him yet, that was her business. There was no use prying into the issue now. After all, trust was hard to earn, and as far as Garfield could figure, he had a long way to go with raven before he could expect that trust from her.

"Now, I seem to remember a certain purple haired someone telling a devilishly handsome green haired hunk that he could walk you home," Garfield said while wagging his eyebrows goofily at Raven. Mockingly, Gar held out his arm for Raven to take, pretending now to be a perfect gentleman for her.

Raven rolled her eyes at the jovial teen, but could not help but admire how he could just either act like nothing had just happened or forget it entirely. She would have given anything to have that kind of power over her own mind, but she just could not dismiss the fact that she had just lived through one of the most embarrassing situations of her life. The only thing that could have made things worse was if Victor had somehow appeared at one point while Garfield was hugging her, and she thanked whatever higher power there was for showing at least some mercy towards her today. Heaven itself knew that her day had been far more eventful than she would have liked it to be, but few things about it were all that unpleasant. Perhaps this was not the only time she had been shown mercy today, but regardless, the day was still young and Garfield was still standing there looking like an idiot.

"True," Raven answered in a mocking tone as she took a step towards Garfield, making it seem se was going along with his ruse. "I did promise. However," she walked passed Gar with a fiendish smirk without taking his outstretched arm, "since I don't see the person _you_ seem to be talking about anywhere around here, I guess you'll have to do."

Instead of being put off by Raven's remarks about him, Garfield's grin grew exponentially and he let his arm fall back to his side while rushing towards his companion's side. Raven had actually been teasing him, almost joking with him! This was the last thing he expected from her after being all monotonous and mysterious all day, and this only confirmed his suspicions that there was a lot more to the pale girl than what little he already knew. He wanted t know everything.

"It's been a long day, huh?" Garfield asked after getting bored sometime within the first five minutes of silent walking. The green haired boy was not built for silence, and it always made him a little uncomfortable when there was nothing being said causing him on many occasions to do something incredibly stupid to break the silence. He felt far more comfortable when everyone around him was laughing at him rather than saying nothing at all.

"Longer for me," Raven reminded him. "You were unconscious for an hour, remember?"

"Dude," Gar laughed, "how could I remember being unconscious if I _was_ unconscious at the time? I don't know Raven, but you need to hear some of the stuff that comes out of your mouth sometimes. You wouldn't believe how foolish you sound right now." Garfield smiled playfully at the once hooded girl.

Raven sighed. Her eyes were beginning to hurt from all the times she had rolled them today, so she passed on this occasion. If she had not known he was just being difficult on purpose, she would have knocked him unconscious for the third time already. "You know perfectly well what I mean, Garfield Logan."

"I don't know, Raven," Gar smiled. "You seem to forget who you're talking to here. I'm the king of being out of the loop."

Raven could not actually believe that Garfield actually sounded almost proud of what he had just said. Obviously, she could not allow that. "That effectively explains your apparent less than remedial mathematical prowess."

"No fair!" Gar whined loudly. "Half of those words I don't even understand."

Raven smirked at this. "Mathematical' being one of them, I would assume."

Garfield glared at the purple haired girl beside him before erupting with an uncontrolled burst of laughter. "Good one!" He managed to get out after his laughter died down to mere giggles.

It was amazing to the purple haired teen how Garfield could go unaffected by a joke directed at him. However, Raven was not joking, but she figured that Gar did not quite need to know that. She was about to comment on his girlish giggles, but decided that it was best to leave that road un-traveled. She could already hear in her mind Garfield coming back about them being perfectly manly giggles and then go on to do something overly male like flexing his muscles.

'_Though, I doubt Garfield could flex much,_' Raven thought to herself as she unknowingly found her eyes traveling over toward Gar's body. She had never really bothered to look before, mostly because she never really cared much about physical appearances. However, now that she was unknowingly taking a long, drawn out glance, she could easily tell by his tight fitting purple undershirt that he was decently built for his size though most of her vision was obscured by that black outer shirt he was wearing. She could only guess what he looked like without that on.

For some reason, Raven felt her face growing rather warm in the area of her cheeks. Knowing exactly what it was, she instinctively reached for the sides of her fallen hood and returned it to its rightful place covering her head.

"Why do you do that?" Garfield's voice suddenly broke through Raven's shadowy solitude. "Why do you try to hide yourself behind that hood? You're too beau… I mean, it's not like you're horribly disfigured or something. So, why do you do it?"

That was a question that Raven knew was going to pop up sooner or later, but she would have unquestionably preferred later rather than sooner. The question's answer was far more than complicated, and could not have just one answer. Her hood protected her from the eyes of those who might wish to harm her. Her hood concealed her from the watchful eyes of those around her. Her hood gave her a sense of protection. The shadows provided a safe-haven for her to retreat to when things got unbearable. The shadows hid her reactions to certain things that had an unwanted effect on her, namely and most recently blushes. Her hood was everything to her, but to others, it could be best described in one simple phrase.

"Because I feel like it." It was the simplest and easiest answer to accept for most people who asked the same thing of Raven, however few they were in numbers. Basically, the answer was the perfect way of avoiding the truth while hinting that the asker should drop the subject. However, maybe Garfield was right about one thing. Raven had seemed to have forgotten who she was talking to for a moment.

"Oh come on, Raven" Garfield persisted insistently. "I may have only met you this morning, but I think I know you well enough to say that you never do anything without good reason. So, why don't you just tell me what it is?"

"Garfield," Raven sighed, "just drop it. I have my reasons, and they are my own. You don't see me asking you why you dye your hair green or why you have an obsession with mindless video games, do you?"

"Green is my second favorite color and video games are just fun and don't require much energy to play," Gar answered all too quickly before smiling at Raven again hopefully. "Your turn, Raven."

The hooded girl's palm quickly found its way to her forehead as she sighed in annoyance. "It was just an example, Garfield. I didn't really want to know either of those things, and I'm not telling you anything even if you told me your entire life story."

"Fine," Garfield said in a tone that sounded far from defeat. "You win. I'll leave you alone. In fact, I'll try not to say anything for the rest of our walk home, okay?"

That deal sounded too good to be true to Raven, but she was not going to be the one to pass up a golden opportunity like this when handed to her on a silver platter. Without hesitation, she quickly agreed, but Garfield still wore that same smile that looked almost victorious. Raven shrugged it off, though. Whatever victory Garfield had just thought he had won was beyond her, but it did not matter. As long as he was silent, Raven could not care less. Yet, there was a miniscule thought in the back of her mind that proved otherwise.

Five minutes of silent walking later, and that miniscule though grew in size a hundred fold. It was now the only thing Raven could think about, and it frustrated her. Such a small thing should have been irrelevant, but there she was considering every possible response to the question that had been left unanswered. Why Garfield had even left such a detail open to begin with was a mystery to Raven, and she found herself despising him more and more for it but her hatred for herself was even greater because she could not let it go. She had to know.

Turning her head towards the green haired boy, Raven opened her mouth to ask but quickly shut it tightly. If she asked that question, the silence would end, and if there was no more silence, it meant Garfield would be back to annoying her again. Was it really worth it all for the sake of just one stupid question she wanted to know the answer to. It was not even that big of a deal. It just bugged her not to know, but she was supposed to be stronger than this. She could endure it. She had to endure it.

A mere minute more of being left to her own thoughts that continually wandered back to the question unanswered, and Raven felt like she was going crazy. Within that minute, she had found herself three times trying to straighten the wrinkles out of her sleeves, and once trying to wipe a non-existent speck of dust off of her pants. However, just when she felt she could not take any more, Garfield's voice broke the silence.

"It's eating you up on the inside, isn't it?" Garfield asked smugly. Raven could easily see the victorious grin across the green haired boy's face. "No matter what you do, you keep thinking about it, don't you Raven?" He reiterated. "I bet you've thought of every single possible answer in your mind by now. Am I right?"

Raven glared at him. "You're a cruel, sadistic little man behind that moronic facade, Garfield. Just tell me what's yo-"

"What's with the insults, Raven?" Garfield asked in a mock shocked tone. "Aren't I allowed to keep secrets? I mean, it seems kind of hypocritical of you to pry into my personal information when you won't even answer one of my simple little, harmless questions."

Raven snapped. In an instant, she had Garfield by the collar and was glaring daggers at the boy mere inches from his face. "Tell me, or I'll take my frustration out on you right here, right now."

"First you have to promise to answer one of my questions if I'm answering one of yours," Garfield tried to bargain with the enraged girl, but the amount of fear in his voice made it clear that he did not have the upper hand. However, Raven was desperate.

"Fine. Fine!" She spat angrily as she shook the boy in her grasp slightly. From the close proximity of their bodies, Raven quickly spotted a darkening patch of skin on Garfield's face where he had bumped into the heavy metal doorway back at the school, and for a moment, Raven briefly felt concern for the jovial teen. Garfield was obviously going to have a very large bruise on his face for the next few days, and she knew that it was all her fault. However, such feelings did not linger long, and her mind soon returned to the matter at hand.

"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD," Raven yelled furiously, "TELL ME WHAT YOUR FAVORITE COLOR IS ALREADY! It makes no sense to tell me your second favorite without me knowing what your favorite it. It could be anything. I know it shouldn't bother me like this, but it does and it is the worst form of torture I have ever seen so just tell me already before I go insane!"

If he was not being held in such a dangerous position, Garfield honestly though he would have laughed at Raven's actions. It was all really quite humorous. It was in itself preposterous to think that the strong willed, collective Raven could ever be brought to her proverbial knees by something so insignificant as having a single bit of information withheld from her curious mind. Yet, Garfield had a feeling that his trick would work on his pale companion. To him, she seemed quite knowledgeable, and the need to obtain knowledge was something easily exploitable by those who cared little for it. However, he would have to revel in his victory later. Now was the time to save his own skin.

"Well, since you've asked so nicely," Garfield said jokingly, hoping that his fear of the purple haired girl was not too evident in his voice right now, "I guess I could tell you. My favorite color, as you can tell from my shirt if you had bothered to look," Gar smirked as he said this, though little did he know that Raven had gotten far more than a good look at his shirt mere minutes prior, "is purple."

A wave of relief flooded Raven's senses as Garfield's answer registered in her mind. The need to know had passed, and she seemed satisfied with the boy's response. Sighing contently, Raven released her grip on Garfield's collar and retook her original position several feet away from him. Her previous frustration induced rage quickly dissipating, and the familiar serene feeling slowly returned to her senses.

It was then that her mind seemed to resume all functionality, taking her newfound knowledge and running with it on all possible tangents. Her thought traveled to the first time Gar had seen her without her hood. He had called her an angel, a beautiful one at that. Of course, Garfield had been entirely unaware that it was her at the time. A part of her wondered if he would have had the same reaction if he had fully understood that it was her, but the other quickly dismissed such thoughts before they had a chance to develop further. There was no doubt in her mind that she was no angel to anyone, even a half conscious Garfield.

"Well, I hope you're satisfied, Raven," Gar grinned happily as he broke Raven from the confines of her own mind. "Because now it's time for you to answer one of my questions, and I hope you're prepared, because I've got a good one lined up for ya."

Raven's eyes widened in horror. In her haste to get her own answers, she had foolishly agreed to Garfield's request, and considering what Garfield had asked her before all this mess had started, she was quite sure of the question he was going to ask. However, she was quite unsure of how she was going to answer. There were numerous reasons that she openly told her own mind, but there were few she was willing to divulge to another's. Raven cursed herself for blindly walking into such an obvious trap.

Raven knew she could easily avoid the question or even refuse to answer it, but that would be dishonest. There had not been a single occurrence in her life when Raven had gone back on her word willingly. Untruthful behavior was something she despised, and she long ago established the importance of truthfulness in her own life. There were times when she felt that her word was all that she had, and she was not going to do anything to taint it, no matter the situation. No matter how much Raven despised the situation, she would answer the question she knew was coming as honestly as she could.

"Very well," Raven sighed, her lack of enthusiasm clearly evident by her tone. "Ask away."

Garfield forced down his grin and tried to put on the most serious face he could manage. The last thing he wanted was for Raven to think this was all some big joke to him. Sure, he had used a very underhanded tactic to achieve his goal, but the end justified the means, did they not? All he wanted was to know Raven better, just like he wanted to know everyone he met better. That was what friendship was all about in his opinion, getting to know each other and especially learning to laugh at a certain green haired boy's jokes, but that was a task he'd save for later. Right now, he wanted the answer to a question that had popped up in his mind from time to time.

"Why do you," Garfield began as Raven predicted, but soon shot in the completely opposite direction, "dye your hair purple?" The question itself was not all that important, really. Garfield was just curious about the answer, but he hoped that this time Curiosity would not kill the cat. "Don't get me wrong, Raven. I like purple. I really like it, and that color just seems to fit you for some reason. It looks… good. I'm just curious about why you chose that color. You've got that whole mysterious voodoo vibe about you that some rebellious teens have, but I think I'm right in saying that you're not the rebellious type. So, why purple?"

After getting over the initial shock of being completely wrong in her assumptions, Raven's heart sank in realization. Garfield, like any normal person would, had assumed that her hair was merely dyed purple. It was not the first time someone had made such a mistake and she was fairly certain that it would not be the last, but the reactions of people who found out the truth had always been fairly similar. Raven found herself wishing that she had shown enough sense as Garfield had when he got his note from the nurse earlier today. That way, things might have turned out differently. She could have already been home, Garfield would be walking back alone, and this conversation would have been avoided.

It was quite needless to say that purple was not usually a natural hair color. Raven had been the first born with such pigmentation, and it worried and even scared some people at first. However, as she soon learned during her time in the world of the adolescent, such oddities were oftentimes the subject of mass ridicule and insults. Some people would do anything to make themselves feel better about themselves, even if all they were was a very jealous, poor example of a human being. Yet, in her heart, the decision had already been made long ago that Garfield was far from that, and even though he obviously did not even have an inkling of an idea of the truth about her, Raven somehow knew that his reaction would not mirror the ones she had gotten in the past. Before she could reconsider, she heard herself answer.

"Actually, Garfield," Raven spoke in a clearly hesitant tone, "my hair is… it's… my hair is just naturally purple." There. She had said it. It was in the open now, and all she could do was hope that her impression of Gar was how he would respond in reality. Otherwise, all she had to look forward to was more ridicule, and she had already endured more than enough of that in her lifetime. Summoning up a portion of her courage, Raven chanced a glance at Garfield to see how he was taking the news.

To her surprise, Garfield had vanished. A new wave of panic washed over her, and the hooded girl spun around in search of her lost companion, though she could hardy say that she was surprised by the way that she found him. Apparently, the green haired teen had been taken so aback by Raven's response that his body stopped functioning altogether, and he now stood completely unmoving several feet behind Raven. The most Raven could say was that Garfield's reaction had been rather unique so far. Usually, the people who gained such knowledge met Raven instantly with uncontrolled laughter, but perhaps Garfield's mind was just taking a bit longer than normal to process the information. The mocking laughter could very well still come at any moment, but for some reason, the majority of Raven was positive that it would not, and the fates did not disappoint her this time.

"Dude!" Gar yelled loudly as every part of his body suddenly restarted, and to Raven's delight, he was smiling like he had just struck gold. "That is so awesome! Rae! Raven, that is so cool. I wish my hair had a cool natural color lie that. Maybe green, so I wouldn't have to waste my money on hair dye. Well, it's my parents' money but you get the idea. That's just so amazing. I bet you had tons of friends growing up just because of that, right?"

The innocence in Garfield's voice made Raven want to lie. It almost seemed like a crime to shatter the picture he had painted of her when the truth was quite the opposite of his assumptions. No matter how happy she was that Garfield seemed to accept her even more now that he knew the truth, the sad memories of the past outweighed what she was feeling now. Her face saddened as the clear memories of all the ridicule and betrayal she lived through in years past flowed through her mind, yet another thing meant to be concealed beneath the shadows of her hood.

"No, Garfield," Raven answered in a perfectly monotone voice, though not without great effort. "I doubt even you would believe how cruel the mind of young children can be when encountering something out of the norm. Friends… were a luxury I rarely had growing up, though I will leave it at that. I've answered far more than your original question. Be content with that, Garfield."

Though he could not see Raven's face nor could he hear any emotion in her voice, it clicked in Garfield's mind that she had a less than positive history with friends. It explained a lot, and could be used to explain a lot more that what was true for Raven. In his mind, Garfield knew this, and he did not allow himself to jump to random, crazy conclusion like he had been known to do before. However, the green haired boy allowed himself just enough freedom to connect what he had just learned from Raven to why she had been so hesitant and cautious when he first offered his friendship to her. It made sense, and in a rare moment of genus, Garfield left it at that knowing any further discussion would obviously lead Raven to a corner of her memories she was obviously not ready to share with him yet. Perhaps, given time, things will be different, but for now, Garfield searched desperately for a change of subject.

"Hey!" Gar exclaimed excitedly as a thought suddenly occurred to him. "I never did get t see your drawing, Raven, and I actually tried reminding myself a few times to check it out if I could. I bet you're a great artist and all, since you read a lot. Some of the authors' creativeness should have rubbed off on you by now, and I but you'll be god at anything because of it."

Raven was a bit taken aback by all of this, not only because Gar had yet again found a way to compliment her through normal conversation, but because the green haired boy had somehow managed to miss the show she and Victor put on back in class. The teacher only rambled on about her drawing for a good five minutes, and that was not to mention the fact that Victor's drawing should have raised at least some suspicion. There were only two other thing in the room that he could have possibly been distracted by. One was that brown haired girl who acted nice all the time, but that death glare Raven received proved her to be otherwise. The only other thing, however, was his picture.

Thinking about it more, the former did not really make a whole lot of sense, since Garfield admitted to not being very fond of her soon after class had ended. The latter confused her, though, and it was in that warm, tingly way that Raven despised. The person Garfield had drawn turned out to be Raven, so, two possibilities arose. The first being something that Raven dismissed almost immediately. That was just impossible, and she did not even want to think about _that_ what if situation. However, the second was a lot more comforting. Considering how good of an artist Garfield turned out to be, he was more than likely just busy doing as much as he could in the time provided to make the picture as decent as possible. After all, the picture was of her, so it probably needed a lot of work to get her pencil sketched self to look as good as she did. There was no way that she looked like that in reality. The harder she thought about it, though, the more she began to feel that there was a question she had forgotten to ask.

"Raven, are you in there," the green haired boy said as he curiously waved a hand in front of the pale teen's face, causing her to jerk back to attention.

"Please stop that, Garfield, before I relieve that arm from you," Raven said venomously, and Garfield did not need to see beneath her hood to tell that she was glaring.

"Sorry about that," Gar gave his weak apology while laughing nervously. Raven noticed this, and wondered just how many times he had done so today. Did she really make him that scared, or was he merely just nervous around her? "But, you kind of phased out there for a while, or I guess I just assumed you did since I never got an answer. Did you even hear my question?"

"Yes," Raven said softly before muttering some form of an apology that was far less than believable. "I was just thinking."

"Care to share?" Garfield asked hopefully, giving Raven his best pleading look. "I mean, if it was something interesting enough to distract you that much, I'd bet it would be worth some discussion."

Raven merely looked at his groveling form dryly. "I think I'll pass this time. Besides," Raven swiftly turned down into a house's driveway on the side of the street, "this is where we part ways, thankfully." She looked over and saw Garfield's slightly hurt facial expression before quickly adding, "because I've got a lot of things I need to do that have been on my mind since school let out." Gar's face returned to normal, though it bothered Raven that she cared enough to make up such a blatant lie. However, a look of confusion spread over her face when she realized what was going on. "Why are you still following my, Garfield? I'm fairly certain that you don't live here with me."

"Oh," Garfield said with surprise clearly evident in his voice. "I didn't even realize I was still following you. I guess I've just gotten used to it after all the time we've spent together today. I guess it's just habit by now. Sorry."

"It's okay." Raven spoke indifferently, and continued her trek towards her front door. However, nothing had changed. "You're still following me."

"Yeah," Garfield once again laughed nervously. "Well, I just thought… that it'd be nice, I guess, if I… maybe… walk you to your door. I mean, we're almost there anyway. What's it gunna hurt?"

Her pride, for one.

"Whatever," the hooded girl spoke agitated, while making a point to speed up her walk. The sooner she got to her door, the sooner she could put this entire day behind her. She had to ignore the strange look she was getting from Garfield once he noticed her change in velocity, though it was strangely difficult. Soon enough, Raven stood beyond the threshold of her open doorway looking back at the still lingering green haired boy. He reminded her of a stray dog that followed random people home, looking for someone to pay attention to it. For some odd reason, Raven's eye started to twitch at the mere thought of a dog.

"So…" Garfield began hesitantly. He did not know exactly the right things to say to a friend he just made at the end of the day. Were there some words of gratitude needed, or would just a simple goodbye do. Neither seemed perfectly acceptable to him at the moment, and he just went with the first things out of his mouth. "I'll see you tomorrow morning, I suppose. Do you always walk to school?"

Before she even knew what she had gotten herself into, Raven answered. "When I live this close, yeah, I always walk to school."

"Sweet!" Garfield nearly yelled in a tone that made Raven realize her mistake instantly. "I'll meet up with you again tomorrow, then." Before the purple haired girl could answer, Garfield gave a wicked grin and spoke, what would be in normal cases, his death sentence. "Later, **Rae**!" And with that, he took off running down the street, not daring to chance a look back at Raven.

Even though he was grinning like mad as he ran toward his home, Garfield knew that one thing was certain. He was going to pay for that tomorrow, dearly. But tomorrow was a whole day away, and that meant he had a lot of gaming to do if he was going to die a happy man, a **lot** of gaming.


End file.
